\M^ 


toilli 


jrrate-^ 


jlgaeia::  f..i^ 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 


THE 


CHRISTIAN    RELIGION 


BY 

GEORGE  PARK  FISHER,  D.D.,LL.D. 

PBOFESSOB 
OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTOBY  IX  YALE  COLLEGE 


KEW  YOKK 

THE  CHAUTAUQrA  PEESS 

c.  l.  s.  c.  depaktmekt 

805  Broadway 

1886 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER's    SONS 

1882,  1886 


GKANT  &  FAIRES 
PHILADELPHIA 


'JO 
CO 

en 


en 


c 
(■ 


lO  ***     The  required  books  of  the  C.  L.  S.   C.  are  recommended  by 

CO  . 

cr>      a  council  of  six.     It  must,  however,  be  understood  that  recommendatton 

does  not  involve  an  approval  by  the  Council,  or  by  any  member  of  it, 

""'      of  every  principle  cr  doctrine  contained  in  the  book  recommended. 


234.5'74 


Digitized  by  tlie  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2008  witli  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/cliristianreligioOOfisli 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 


I  SHALL  not  enter  the  lists  as  a  combatant  against 
any  of  the  recent  assailants  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion.     Religious  controversy  is  some-     Religious 

contro- 

times  necessary  :  it  is  often  useful ;  but  versy. 
it  is  always  exposed  to  disadvantages.  It  is  very 
apt  to  draw  about  it  a  multitude  of  readers  whose 
interest  in  it  is  akin  to  that  which  animates  the 
spectators  of  a  cock-fight.  It  easily  degenerates 
into  a  game  of  fence,  where  the  vivacity  and 
expertness  of  the  competitors  in  the  duel  are  of 
more  consequence  than  the  justice  of  the  cause. 
Christianity  is  a  large  matter ;  the  Bible  is  a  large 
book,  or  rather  collection  of  books  forming  a  con- 
nected whole.  It  is  easy  for  an  ingenious  mind  to 
bring  forward  objections,  suggest  difficulties  of 
greater  or  less  weight,  and  propound  mistaken  or 


4  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

half-mistaken  assertions.  Of  all  warfare,  guerilla- 
fighting  is  the  least  satisfactory.  It  is  proverbial 
that  a  question  respecting  any  system,  however 
well  founded,  may  be  asked  in  one  line,  which 
it  may  require  pages  to  answer.  To  reply  to 
a  medley  of  such  objections  one  by  one  is  like 
the  business  of  picking  up  pins ;  and,  even  when 
the  work  is  really  done,  the  impression  left  is 
that  made  by  an  apology,  according  to  the  fine 
old  maxim,  "Qui  s^ excuse  s'acGuse.'^^  Most  of 
the  popular  objections  are  not  in  the  least  novel. 
A  critical  attack,  peculiar  in  its  character,  has 
been  made  on  Christianity  in  recent  times  in 
Germany  by  Strauss  and  Baur.  It  has  been  re- 
oid  newed  in  France  in  a  modified  form  by 

objections 

renewed.  Rcuan.  Materialism,  either  in  a  bald 
shape  or  in  its  agnostic  dress,  has  made  itself  a  prom- 
inent antagonist.  But  assailants  of  Christianity  in 
American  journals  frequently  take  up  last-century 
weapons  which  have  been  cast  aside  by  adversaries 
of  the  gospel  who  are  abreast  of  the  times.     To 

^  He  who  excuses  himself  accuses  kimself. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  5 

confute  attacks  of  this  sort,  such  as  were  common 
in  the  old  dcistical  controversy,  would  be  to  beat 
straw  already  well  thrashed.  In  truth,  it  is  re- 
markable how  many  of  these  objections  were  made 
by  Celsus  as  early  as  the  close  of  the  second  cen- 
tury,— for  example,  the  objection  from  alleged  dis- 
crepancies in  the  Gospels, — and  were  successfully 
disposed  of  by  Origen,  the  great  Christian  scholar 
of  that  day. 

I  prefer  a  more  positive  method  of  handling  the 
subject.  As  there  is  a  variety  of  topics  to  be 
touched  upon,  it  will  be  convenient  to  separate 
them  by  numerical  designations. 

1.  Christianity  is  not  a  new  thing.  It  is  not 
contending  for  a  foothold  on  the  earth.  Its  roots  are 
deep  in  the  soil.     It  is  a  great,  lougr-es- 

'-  G         J         C3  Power  and 

tablished,  wide-spread,  and  still  advanc-  "f'chHs-^ 
ing  religion.  It  is  the  faith  of  the  '^^^  ^'  '■ 
enlightened  nations,  incorporated  in  them  at  the 
beginning  of  their  existence,  helping  to  create  them, 
presiding  over  their  growth.  It  has  moulded  to  a 
great  extent  their  political  and  social  institutions, 
their  sentiments  and  usages,  and  leavened  their 


6  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

literature  and  laws.  It  has  entered  into  their  very- 
blood  and  marrow.  To  dislodge  Christianity  as 
a  supernatural  religion,  were  it  possible,  from  the 
convictions  and  life  of  the  European  nations  and 
their  offshoots,  would  be  a  revolution  the  magni- 
tude and  terrible  effect  of  which,  as  I  believe,  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive.  The  old  Grasco-Roman 
religion  fell,  but  it  fell  by  the  expulsive  power  of 
a  new  and  better  faith.  Had  it  been  swept  away 
by  mere  unbelief,  with  nothing  but  atheism,  or  the 
indistinct  and  fluctuating  creed  of  natural  religion, 
to  stand  in  the  room  of  it,  who  can  doubt  that  there 
would  have  been  a  ruin  without  a  recovery  ?  But 
the  principal  thing  which  I  wish  to  say  under  this 
head  is,  that  the  burden  of  disproving  Christianity 
and  demonstrating  that  it  rests  on  a  false  founda- 
tion properly  falls  on  the  assailing  party;  and, 
further,  to  intimate  that  the  task  is  not  a  light  one. 
2.  It  should  be  understood,  at  the  outset,  that 
no  one  claims  that  the  system  of  Christianity  is 
Mysteries        frcc  from  difficulties,  which  may,  here 

in  Chris-  ^  n  i        •  i 

tianity.  and  there,  be  of  a  perplexing  character. 

This  is  no  more  than  is  admitted  by  everybody, 


TEE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  7 

except  narrow  partisans,  in  the  case  of  every 
science.  The  same  thing  is  true,  I  believe,  of  the 
law  of  gravitation.  There  are  mysteries  which 
are  not  clearetl  up,  which  revelation  does  not  pre- 
tend to  clear  up, — some,  it  is  likely,  which  the 
human  intelligence,  at  its  present  grade  of  develop- 
ment, is  incapable  of  exploring.  We  are  not  yet 
arrived  at  the  summit  where  we  can  overlook  the 
universe.  Christianity  is  a  practical  system :  its 
founder  likened  himself  to  a  physician.  We  are 
justified  in  taking  food,  and  in  taking  medicine 
when  we  are  sick,  and  this  not  merely  on  grounds 
of  experience.  We  can  see  to  some  extent  the 
rcUlonale  of  the  operation  of  food  and  medicine, 
even  without  an  exhaustive  knowledge  of  chemis- 
try and  physiology,  and  the  hidden  process  of  life 
and  growth.  An  apostle  only  claimed  for  himself 
and  others  to  "  know  in  part,"  to  have  a  fragmen- 
tary and  obscure  knowledge — but  still  a  real 
knowledge — of  things  invisible.  The  question 
respecting  any  creed  proposed  for  belief,  whether 
in  religion  or  philosophy  or  science,  is  whether  the 
reasons  for  it  are  stronger  than  the  reasons  against 


8  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

it,  and  whether  they  are  enough  stronger  to  justify 
credence.  Christianity  asks  no  more  for  itself 
than  is  conceded  in  regard  to  every  other  system 
and  theory,  and  in  regard  generally  to  events  which 
do  not  fall  under  the  immediate  notice  of  the 
senses;  though  even  here  time  and  space,  sense- 
perception,  and  the  reality  of  an  external  world 
are  not  free  from  the  most  perplexing  difficulties. 

3.  Another  thing  which  may  as  well  be  said 
here  is,  that  Christians  are  not  all  agreed  in  their 
DifFerenees      Opinions,   that   it   is    unreasonable    to 

among  ,  n  • 

Christians.  expcct  them  to  concur  on  all  pomts, 
and  that  it  is  unfair  to  identify  the  special  ideas  of 
a  class  with  the  essentials  of  Christian  belief. 
What  master  in  philosophy  was  ever  interpreted 
just  alike  by  all  of  his  adherents  ?  The  disciples 
of  Plato  have  differed  as  to  his  meaning  on  par- 
ticular points.  One  of  them  has  maintained  one 
thing,  and  another  the  opposite.  Some  have 
denied  certain  Dialogues  to  be  his,  which  others 
with  equal  confidence  have  declared  to  be  genuine. 
Yet  there  is  an  essential  Platonism  in  which,  as  a 
body,  Platonic  disciples  are  agreed.     Where  is 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  9 

there  a  political  party  which  has  existed  for  a  score 
of  years,  the  members  of  which  are  perfectly  at 
one  in  their  creed  ?  How  commonly  do  they  dis- 
agree as  to  the  meaning  of  their  "  platform,"  and 
this  when  there  is  no  designed  ambiguity  in  it ! 
It  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that  on  a  subject 
like  Christianity,  covering,  as  it  does,  so  broad  a 
field,  and  as  to  the  precise  character  of  the  Bible 
as  a  whole,  and  of  its  component  parts,  there 
should  be  an  absolute  accord  among  all  who  call 
themselves,  and  deserve  to  be  called,  Christians. 
To  take  a  single  example  :  there  are  some  who  hold 
that  every  thing  that  is  said  in  the  Scriptures  which 
bears  on  natural  and  physical  science  is  correct, 
and  of  divine  authority.  There  are  others  w'ho 
hold  that  the  biblical  writers,  whatever  they  knew 
of  the  physical  world,  accommodated  their  lan- 
guage to  the  science  of  their  time.  Others,  again, 
hold  that  in  the  Bible  are  positive  errors  in  science, 
which,  however,  are  affirmed,  not  to  militate  against 
its  authority  as  a  teacher  of  moral  and  religious 
truth.  These  last  are  not  to  be  denied  the  name 
of  Christians :  the  fundamental  principles  of  super- 


10  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

natural  Christianity  they  may  cherish  with  all  their 
hearts.  It  is  a  blunder  of  ignorance,  or  a  trick  of 
controversy,  to  refuse  to  discriminate  between  what 
is  essential  to  a  system  and  the  diverse  opinions,  on 
points  not  essential,  which  spring  up  among  its 
adherents.  The  line  of  demarcation  it  may  not  be 
so  easy  to  draw.  There  may  be  a  difference  as  to 
where  exactly  it  should  run  ;  but  the  existence  of 
such  a  line  none  but  a  sophistical  reasoner  will 
ignore. 

4.  Before  proceeding  farther,  it  is  well  to  advert 

to  an  idea  which  I   had    formerly  supposed  was 

nearly  extinct  in  the  world, — the  idea, 

Is  religion  "^ 

bauefui?  namely,  that  religion,  and  the  Christian 
religion  in  particular,  is  a  bane.  The  Epicureans 
thought  it  an  advantage  to  have  deities  which  stood 
aloof  from  all  concern  for  men  or  connection  with 
human  affairs.  Lucretius  wrote  a  poem  to  set  forth 
the  atomic  theory  of  the  universe,  and  thus  to 
deliver  men's  minds  from  the  terrors  of  superstition 
and  all  the  gloom  and  torture  of  soul  of  w^hich 
religion  was  the  occasion.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
religion  has  been  the  occasion  of  incalculable  suffer- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  11 

ing.  Think  of  the  uncounted  victims  of  religious 
intolerance  !  Think  of  the  animosity  and  blood- 
shed caused  by  religious  wars  !  ^^^lat  an  amount 
of  misery  arose  out  of  the  European  wars  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  which  had  their  origin  largely 
in  religious  dissension  !  It  seems  a  quick  way  to 
abolish  these  manifold  calamities  to  abolish  religion 
itself.  Does  it  need  to  be  said  that  there  is  another 
side  to  the  picture  ?  Apart  from  the  fallacy  of 
charging  on  a  feeling  or  principle  the  consequences 
of  its  abuse  or  perversion,  one  should  look  at  the 
comfort,  wholesome  restraint,  uplifting  hope,  and 
all  the  other  purifying,  elevating,  beneficial  influ- 
ences, incalculable  in  their  extent,  which  have  gone 
forth  to  the  individual,  to  the  household,  to  the 
state,  and  to  mankind  at  large,  from  religion  in  its 
purer  forms.  Moreover,  one  should  look  at  the 
state  of  things  which  would  ensue  if  religion,  and 
the  Christian  religion,  were  swept  away,  and  men 
were  left  to  be  born,  and  toil  and  live  and  die, 
"having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world." 
This  way  of  arguing  against  religion  as  baneful 
really  contains  an  argument /or  religion.     The  evil 


12  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

that  has  sprung  from  fanaticism  and  other  abuses 
of  the  religious  sentiment  shows  how  deeply  planted 
religion  is  in  the  constitution  of  human  nature,  how 
powerful  and  ineradicable  a  feeling  it  is.  In  no 
other  way  can  we  account  for  its  tremendous  influ- 
ence, when  unenlightened  or  morbid,  for  evil. 
Why  not  go  for  getting  rid  of  the  nervous  system 
on  account  of  sciatica  and  neuralgia  ?  Apply  the 
same  sort  of  reasoning  which  is  used  against  religion 
to  the  passion  of  love  as  between  the  sexes.  Who 
can  measure  the  agony  of  which  it  has  been  the 
occasion, — the  corroding  jealousies,  the  frantic  rage, 
abiding  rancor,  adulteries,  self-murder,  sanguinary 
wars,  from  the  siege  of  Troy  for  the  capture  of 
Helen  to  the  connection  of  jVIark  Antony  and 
Cleopatra,  and  from  the  epoch  of  the  Egj-ptian 
sorceress  down  to  our  day  ?  Remembering  Pascal's 
remark,  that,  if  Cleoj)atra's  nose  had  been  longer 
or  shorter,  the  course  of  history  would  have  been 
changed,  I  am  tempted  to  turn  aside,  and  show 
what  unutterable  woe  would  have  been  spared  to 
mankind  if  "the  fatal  gift"  of  beauty  had  not  been 
given  to  woman  or  to  man.     But,  not  to  leave  our 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  13 

illustration,  if  love  bad  been  absent,  and  tbe  sensi- 
bilities and  proi)ensities  involved  in  it,  none  can 
doubt  that  frightful  sorrows  would  have  been 
avoided.  But  then,  among  other  things,  we  should 
have  missed  the  family !  To  argue  that  religion  is 
a  curse  is  like  contending  that  domestic  life  and 
human  government  are  a  curse.  If  the  family  had 
not  existed,  or  were  to  be  abolished,  an  unmeasured 
amount  of  petty  tyranny,  grinding  toil,  anguish  at 
bereavement,  Mould  not  have  been,  and  would  be 
no  more.  Then,  as  to  human  government,  what  is 
it  but  a  long  record  of  oppression?  The  cruel 
deeds  of  tyrants, — of  the  Pharaohs,  the  Neros,  tlie 
Napoleons,  the  ravaging  wars  which  rulers  have 
instigated,  the  dynastic  struggles, — were  they  all 
written  down,  the  world  would  not  contain  the 
books.     Yet,  is  human  government  a  bane  ? 

AVhat  is  there  bad  in  religion  ?  Religion  is  love 
to  God  and  men  !  What  more  is  required  by 
religion  but  "to  do  justly,  and  to  love     Nothing 

1    i  11      1  11  .11  harmful  in 

mercy,  and  to  walk  lumibly  wjth  thy     Keiigion. 
God  "  ?  (Mieah  vi.  S.)    This  is  religion  even  accord- 
ing to  an  Old-Testament  definition.    Is  this  harm- 


14  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

fill  to  the  individual  who  practises  it  ?  Is  it  liurtful 
to  a  neighborhood  or  to  a  civil  community? 
Would  it  be  bad  for  farmers,  merchants,  artisans, 
for  young  people  or  old  people,  or  any  other  class  ? 
Are  penitence  for  evil-doing,  trust  in  a  heavenly 
Father  who  is  more  willing  to  bless  than  is  an 
earthly  parent,  the  conforming  of  one's  life  to  the 
purest  Example,  in  which  righteousness  and  love 
are  perfect  and  perfectly  blended,  mischievous  ?  Is 
it  mischievous  to  resist  temptation,  and  to  pray  to 
God  for  help  in  the  conflict,  and  for  aid  in  be- 
coming unselfish  ?  Yet  these  are  essential  ingredi- 
ents in  practical  Christianity,  and  Christianity  has 
nothing  in  it  incompatible  with  them ;  but  every 
thing  else  in  Christianity  is  auxiliary  to  them. 

I  must  confess  myself  amazed  that  any  rational 

person  can  read  history  with  the  least  attention, 

and  fail  to  see  the  beneficent  influence 

Benefits  of 

chiistiauity  Qf  ^i-^g  Christian  religion.  To  vindicate 
Christianity  in  this  particular  appears  very  like 
pronouncing  a  eulogy  upon  tlie  sun  in  answer  to 
the  assertion  that  there  was  liglit — "cosmic  liglit" 
— in  the  world    before   the  sun  first    rose  in  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  15 

heavens,  and  in  order  to  rebut  the  complaint  that 
the  sun  has  been  sometimes  clouded,  and  givas  us, 
not  unfrequently,  dull  and  murky  days.  What 
was  the  world  into  which  Christianity     state  of  the 

An<-ient 

entered  ?  Tribes  and  nations  had  been  worid. 
distinct,  each  of  them  sliut  up  in  its  o^vn  boundar- 
ies, and  going  forth  only  to  make  war  on  its  neigh- 
bors. Then  all  were  subdued,  and  reduced  under 
the  hard  domination  of  one  city.  Liberty — such 
as  had  existed  in  Greek  towns  where  there  was  a 
little  fraction  of  freemen  to  a  multitude  of  slaves, 
and  in  Rome  within  the  oligarchy  which  ruled  it — 
had  disappeared.  As  concerns  morality,  Roman 
slavery,  the  slaver}^  of  whites, — of  artists,  teachers, 
and  authors,  as  well  as  of  peasants, — which  was 
bad  enough  under  the  Republic,  grew  'worse  after 
its  fall ;  gladiatorial  combats,  where  all  classes  of 
people  applauded  the  butchery  of  men  by  thousands 
in  the  arena;  infanticide,  countenanced  by  philoso- 
phers and  statesmen  ;  the  foulest  sorts  of  pollution, 
to  which  modern  society  is  a  stranger, — these  are 
some  of  the  features  of  social  life  at  that  epoch. 
Tlie  picture  of  ancient    morals  and  manners  has 


16  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

been  sometimes  drawn  in  colors  too  black,  and 
without  due  discrimination ;  but  when  faithfully 
drawn  it  justifies  the  condenmation  which  the 
Apostle  Paul  pours  upon  it  in  the  introduction  of 
his  Letter  to  the  Koman  Church.^  There  were 
noble  men  in  antiquity,  and  there  were  virtuous 
women.  But  when  one  hears  laudations  of  ancient 
morals,  as  if  there  was  a  state  of  things  to  be  com- 
pared for  a  moment  with  the  pure  atmosphere  of 
Christian  society,  one  can  hardly  avoid  reminding 
the  authors  of  such  false  and  ignorant  comparisons 
that  the  noblest  man  of  all  the  ancients  went  with 
his  disciples  to  visit  a  prostitute,  not  to  advise  her 
"  to  sin  no  more,"  but  to  talk  on  the  question  how 
to  ply  her  occupation  with  most  profit.*  Consider- 
ing what  Greek  life  was,  Socrates  deserves  no  severe 
reproach.  But  this  verdict  in  his  favor  condemns 
the  society  where  even  the  best  of  its  members 
knew  no  better. 

Neither  Socrates  nor  Plato  rose  above  the  Greek 

^  I  have  endeavored  to  describe  the  morals  of  heathen  so- 
ciety in  "The  Beginnings  of  Christianity,"  ch.  vi. 
2  Xenophon:  "Memorabilia,"  II.,  xi. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  17 

prejudice  against  "the  barbarian."  There  came, 
indeed,  at  length,  a  dawning  sense  of  a  humanity 
not  limited  by  barriers  of  nation  and     Lack  of 

,  linmane 

race.  Yet  utterances  of  this  nature  Feeiiug. 
are  heard  chiefly  from  the  Stoic  sect, — a  sect  which 
purchased  tranquillity  at  the  cost  of  sympathy, 
and,  by  smothering  emotion,  indulged  in  compas- 
sion only  in  contradiction  to  its  own  fundamental 
tenets,  and  preached  fatalism  and  the  drifting  of  all 
things  to  destruction  as  the  best  gospel  it  could 
discover.  If  Terence  wrote  a  line  in  praise  of 
humane  feeiiug,  Plautus  declared  that  "  man  is  a 
wolf  to  the  stranger," — "  Hojno  homini  ignoto  lupus 
esty  The  only  Roman  writer  who  expresses  a 
disapproval  of  gladiatorial  fights  is  Seneca,  and  he 
only  in  his  old  age,  afler  he  had  implied  in  earlier 
writings  a  contrary  view.  Even  the  younger 
Pliny  aj^plauds  the  provisions  made  by  a  private 
person,  as  well  as  by  Trajan,  for  these  bloody 
amusements.^ 

^  See  Friedlander's  comments  on  Cicero's  view,  etc.,  in  the 
" Sittengesch.  Roms,"  I.,  242,  243;  and  Goll,  "Hellas  u. 
Rom,"  15S.  159. 


18  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

Charity,  compassionate  love,  says  Boeckh,  one 
of  the  profounclest  classical  scholars  of  the  present 
Restrie-  age,  was  no  virtne  of  the  ancient  world. 

tions  of  ^  _ 

charity  Kindly  sayings  can    be  met  with,   as 

blossoms  are  found  on  the  high  Alps  in  the  midst 
of  the  snow.  There  are  instances  of  philanthropy 
in  something  approaching  to  a  systematic  form. 
But  it  takes  more  than  one  swallow  to  make  a 
spring.  The  few  examples  of  benevolence  on  a 
broad  scale,  which  are  often  referred  to,  are  gener- 
ally more  apparent  than  real.  The  provision  for 
poor  children  and  for  orphans,  begun  by  Nerva 
and  carried  out  by  Trajan,  was  for  the  increase  of 
the  free  population,  just  as  Augustus  had  offered  a 
bounty  on  marriage.  The  number  of  boys  sup- 
ported was  ten  times  that  of  girls,  which  indicates 
that  female  children  were  in  large  numbers  aban- 
doned, either  to  perish  or  to  be  saved  from  death 
for  a  w^orse  lot.  Children  deserted  by  their  parents 
were  reared  by  a  special  class  of  slave-dealers, 
in  order  to  sell  them  as  slaves.^     Measures  which 

^  See  Merivale  :  "  History  of  the  Eomans,"  vii.,  208,  209. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  19 

were  founded  on  policy — as  much  so  as  the  feeding 
of  the  idle  populace  of  Rome  out  of  the  public 
granary — are  not  to  be  construed  into  evidences  of 
benevolence.  The  motive  of  the  benefaction  of 
Trajan  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  it  made  no  provi- 
sion for  children  thus  abandoned  to  perish.  The 
same  "  mild  "  Trajan, — and  he  was  mild  in  com- 
parison with  many  of  the  emperors, — after  his 
victories  on  the  Danube,  put  ten  thousand  men 
into  the  arena,  who  continued  for  four  months  to 
soak  the  sand  with  their  blood.^  The  truth  is, 
that  among  the  Jews  alone  the  spirit  of  fraternity 
and  charity  prevailed.  The  Jew  alone  left  in  his 
field  the  slieaf  of  grain  for  the  gleaner,  and  in  the 
vineyard  the  bunch  of  grapes  for  the  needy.  Aris- 
totle and  Plato  were  the  philosophers  of  widest 
repute,  Aristotle  defends  slavery  on  the  ground 
that  the  slave  is  an  animated  tool.  Plato  discoun- 
tenances an  interest  in  the  poor  when  they  are  sick. 
The  laboring  man  who  cannot  recover,  the  physi- 
cian is  to  abandon,  or  to  experiment  on.     In  all 

» Dio,  LXVIIL,  15. 


20  THE  CHBISTIAN  BELIGION. 

antiquity  the  individual  was  merged  in  the  state. 
"When  the  states  of  antiquity  fell  the  Stoic  dreamed 
of  a  cosmopolitan  state ;  but  it  remained  a  dream. 
Christianity  came  into  the  world  with  a  new 
commandment,  to  "love  one  another."  It  brought 
Benefi-  iu  the  principle  of  the  brotherhood  of 

cence  of  t     i        i         i  i         i  • 

Christians.  man.  It  broKC  down  the  barriers  of 
country  and  clan.  It  gathered  the  Greek  and  bar- 
barian, the  rich  and  the  poor,  tlie  freeman  and  the 
slave,  about  the  Lord's  table,  where  all  differences 
were  merged  in  a  fraternal  unity.  The  Christian 
churches  were  eleemosynary  societies.  They  dis- 
pensed alms  with  an  open  hand  to  their  own  poor, 
and  to  the  needy  about  them.  There  had  been 
sodalities  for  mutual  benefit, — mutual  insurance 
clubs ;  but  such  beneficence  and  self-sacrifice  as 
Christians  showed  were  something  altogether  new 
in  the  world.  The  indigent,  the  oppressed,  the 
desponding  invalid,  the  toiling  slave,  took  heart 
and  hope.  There  was  sympathy  for  them  here  on 
earth,  and  a  bright  hope  beyond  death. 

Christianity    survived    persecution.       It    was 
stronger  than  Rome,  stronger  than   pagan   fan- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  21 

aticism.  It  displaced  the  old  religion.  Amidst 
the  decay  of  all  to  which  the  hearts  of  men  had 
cluno;    Christianity  remained  the  sole 

»'  ■^  Historic 

Stay  and  hope  of  a  falling  world.  The  j;;^?  "it^ 
Church  turned  to  the  Germanic  nations, 
carried  to  them  the  gospel,  reduced  their  languages 
to  writing,  gave  them  the  Bible  and  a  literature, 
civilized  them,  conveyed  to  them  such  learning  and 
such  of  the  arts  of  life  as  had  outlived  the  tides  of 
barbarian  invasion.  The  oldest  writings  in  the 
Teutonic  tongues  are  the  fragments  of  the  Gothic 
translation  of  the  Bible  by  Ulfilas.  As  he  gave 
letters  to  the  Goths,  another  missionary,  Cyril,  did 
the  same  service  for  the  Slavonic  peoples.  Anglo- 
Saxon  literature,  with  English  civilization,  grew 
up  among  our  fierce  barbarian  ancestors  through 
their  conversion  by  Augustine,  and  the  connection 
into  which  they  were  brought  with  the  converted 
nations  of  the  Continent.  It  is  very  doubtful 
whether  the  individuals  of  our  Teutonic  race  who 
attack  the  Christian  religion  would  know  their 
letters,  or  would  be  possessed  of  any  vehicle  for 
expressing  their  ideas  except  in  an  oral  form,  had 


22  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

it  not  been  for  the  heroic  missionaries  of  that  reli- 
gion which  is  thonglit  to  be  so  deleterious  in  its 
influence.  In  Christian  monasteries  the  remains 
of  ancient  literature  were  preserved.  By  Christian 
monks  barbarians  were  taught  agriculture  and  what- 
ever knowledge  was  left  from  the  general  wreck. 
From  schools  founded  by  British  missionaries,  and 
by  Charlemagne  (who  was  taught  his  letters  by  an 
English  clergyman),  the  universities  of  Europe 
afterward  arose.  In  the  partial  corruption  of  the 
Church,  the  Scriptures  had  still  been  preserved ; 
the  truth  of  the  gospel  had  not  been  quenched. 
When  the  Bible  was  opened,  out  of  the  bosom  of 
the  Church  came  a  great  reformation.  Religion  in 
its  purified  form  manifested  its  immortal  power  in 
the  individual  and  for  the  renovation  of  society. 
From  the  awakening  of  the  souls  of  men  to  a 
truer  sense  of  their  relations  to  God  and  to  Christ, 
resulted  in  modern  times  the  demand  for  political 
liberty  and  for  institutions  more  conformed  to 
justice.  The  struggle  for  English  freedom  ensued, 
and  the  events  ^Yllicll  paved  the  way  for  the 
American  Republic. 


THE  CIIIilSTIAX  RELIGION.  23 

I  have  not  space  to  pursue  tliis  topic.  The 
ecccutric  thesis  that  religiou — that  the  Christian 
religion  as  it  is  set  fortli  in  the  New  ^j^^^f. 
Testament — is  a  curse  may  be  tested  in  ti.c  oo^poi 
a  practical  way.  Let  any  one  nnagine 
the  best  and  most  faithful  Christian,  measured  by 
the  New-Testament  standard,  whom  he  knows,  to 
be  deprived  of  his  religion  altogether,  or  even  of 
such  elements  in  it  as  are  the  exclusive  result  of 
the  gospel,  and  then  let  him  ask  himself  if  his 
manhood  would  be  improved  by  the  cliange,  and 
if  his  influence  in  the  aggregate  would  be  for  the 
better.  Then  let  the  same  person  imagine  the 
entire  community  to  be  stripped  of  the  churches, 
hospitals,  schools,  the  customs  of  private  prayer 
and  household  religious  teaching, — stripped,  in  a 
word,  of  all  the  beliefs,  habits,  feelings,  institu- 
tions, laws,  so  far  as  their  origin  is  due  to  the 
gospel  of  Christ  as  taught  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  then  let  him  inquire  of  himself  whether  the 
change  would  be  salutary,  or  whether,  in  case  the 
gospel  had  not  borne  these  fruits,  anything  else 
equally  desirable  would  have   grown   up  in  the 


24  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

room  of  them.  Let  liim  make  up  the  account, 
putting  in  the  column  opposite  to  the  benefits  of 
Christianity  whatever  of  evil  he  thinks  has  come 
from  it,  or  would  have  been  prevented  without  it. 
Let  him  make  the  calculation  for  himself,  and 
render  an  honest  verdict. 

5.  What  is  Christianity  ?  It  is  composed  of  facts 
and  doctrines,  two  elements  which  I  shall  severally 
What  is  the     cousidcr  hereafter.    Christians  believe  in 

ChristiaQ  i        •      •  /»  t  •      i  • 

Faith?  the  supernatural  mission  ot  Jesus,  in  his 

divine  sonship,  in  the  authority  of  his  teaching  and 
of  the  teaching  of  his  apostles,  in  his  spotless  excel- 
lence, in  his  miracles,  in  his  death  and  resurrection. 
They  believe  that  God  has  established  a  kingdom 
in  the  world,  a  spiritual  kingdom,  the  beginnings 
of  which  were  laid  in  the  remote  past ;  that  it  began 
in  the  separation  of  one  man,  Abraham,  from  the 
surrounding  idolatry,  and  in  the  segregation  from 
idolatrous  peoples  of  the  nation  which  sprang  from 
him ;  that  this  kingdom,  founded  and  sustained  by 
a  supernatural  Providence,  was  carried  from  stage 
to  stage  until  its  consummation,  or  its  attaining  to 
a  ripe  and  universal  form,  through  Jesus  Christ; 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  25 

that  within  this  kingdom  true  religion  was  planted 
and  nourished  until  it  arrived  at  perfection  in  the 
final  or  Christian  stage  of  revelation,  when  it  only 
remained  to  diiFuse  it  over  the  earth ;  that  to  this 
outcome  the  Avhole  system,  even  in  its  rudimental 
shape,  looked  and  tended;  and  that  Christianity 
■was  the  object  of  prediction,  sometimes  dim,  some- 
times more  clear ;  that  the  manifestation  of  God 
was  primarily  in  act  and  deed,  or  in  a  succession 
of  historical  events  in  which  the  divine  agency  was 
evidently  concerned,  and  which  served,  therefore,  to 
reveal  God  and  to  bring  men  into  communion  with 
him ;  that  for  the  understanding  of  the  significance 
of  these  transactions  the  minds  of  prophets  and 
apostles  were  suj^rnaturally  enlightened,  M'hereby 
they  were  qualified  to  be  the  expositors  of  the  out- 
ward revelation  and  to  enforce  its  lessons. 

A  distinction  must  be  made  between  revelation 
and  inspiration,  and  between  Christianity  and  the 
Bible.     He  is  the  recipient  of  a  revela-     Revelation 

.  .      .    ,      .  ,    .  and  Inspira- 

tion to  whom  Hisight  nito  trutli  is  super-     ti""- 

naturally  communicated.     The  same  man  may,  or 

may  not,  be  inspired  to  set  forth  the  contents  of  that 


26  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

revelation  either  orally  or  iu  a  writing.  But 
Christianity  existed  and  was  complete,  and  it  was 
preached,  before  a  syllable  of  the  New  Testament 
was  written.  Christians  hold  to  the  obvious  his- 
torical fact  that  the  old  dispensation  stands  iu  an 
organic  relation  to  the  new.  Christianity  sprang 
iij)  among  the  Jews.  If  science  is  from  the  Greeks, 
and  law  is  from  the  Eomans,  "  salvation  is  of  the 
Jews."  Religion  was  the  one  absorbing  idea  and 
interest  of  that  people  as  it  never  has  been  of  any 
other.  The  Son  of  man  is  the  Son  of  David.  But 
a  great  part  of  the  Bible  is  made  up  of  narratives. 
How  far  were  the  writei-s  aided  from  above  in  the 
composition  of  them,  and  how  far  did  they  depend 
on  observations  and  inquiries  like  those  through 
which  writers  of  secular  history,  into  wliich  the 
miraculous  element  does  not  enter,  gain  their  in- 
formation ?  No  one  holds  that  history  was  to  any 
considerable  extent  dictated  to  them.  Some  Chris- 
tians hold  that  inspiration  guided  their  minds  in 
the  selection  and  omission  of  matter.  Some  hold 
that  inspiration  protected  them  from  all  sorts  of 
en'or,  even  such  imperfections  as  the  most  accurate 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  27 

and  faithful  narrators  are  liable  to  fall  into.  Others 
dissent  from  tliis  last  view.  But  Christians  gener- 
ally consider  these  historical  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  and  all  the  other  books  of  the 
Bible,  to  be  differentiated  from  all  other  literature, 
as  being  pervaded  by  another  spirit,  "which  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  they  are  produced  on  the  plane  of 
revelation,  and  stand  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  the 
supernatural  events  which  form  its  groundwork. 
The  books  of  the  Bible  are  the  documents  of  the 
Christian  religion,  from  which  its  facts  and  doc- 
trines, and  the  circumstances  of  its  origin  and 
growth,  can  be  correctly  ascertained.  Deviations 
from  traditional  theories  of  inspiration  may  be 
erroneous,  or  they  may  be  well  founded  ;  but  no 
man  who  accepts  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity 
is  to  be  denied  the  title  of  Christian  on  the  ground 
of  peculiarities  of  opinion  on  this  subject. 

6.  The  foregoing  remarks  naturally  bring  us  to 
the  important  fact  of  the  gradualness  of  divine  reve- 
lation.    Like  the  subsequent  spread  of     Gradual- 

1     •  /»  1  1  ncss  of 

tiie  gospel,  it  was  "  first  the  blade,  then  lieveiation. 
the  ear,  then  the  full  curu  in  the  ear."     This  in- 


28  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

choate,  preparatoiy,  and,  in  tliis  sense,  imperfect 
character  is  ascribed  to  the  Old-Testament  system, 
both  in  the  Old  Testament  itself  and  in  the  New. 
The  whole  form  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  earlier 
dispensation  was  provisional ;  the  disclosure  of  God 
was  partial  and  increasing ;  laws  fell  short  of  the 
absolute  standard  of  moral  duty ;  rites  were  adapted 
to  religious  feelings  and  to  perceptions  not  yet 
mature;  the  type  of  character  corresponded  to  the 
inadequate  concej)tions  of  God ;  the  ethical  and 
emotional  expressions  answered  to  the  several  stages 
of  revelation  to  which  they  pertained.  All  this 
ought  to  be  a3  familiar  to  readers  of  the  Bible  as 
the  alphabet.  Unhappily,  it  has  been  often  over- 
looked by  Christians,  and  persistently  ignored  by 
the  adversaries  of  Christianity. 

Christ  contrasted  his  precepts  with  the  injunctions 
given  to  them  of  old  time.  He  taught  that  sin. 
The  Gosppi      and  not  sinners,  was  to  be  the  object  of 

and  the  Mo-  i       •  />  i  t 

saic  Law.  abhorrcnce.  The  boundaries  ol  love  and 
good-will  were  to  be  co-extensive  with  the  race  of 
mankind.  Men  were  to  jn-ay  for  their  enemies. 
Iveferring  to  an  important  precept  in  the  JNIosaic 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  29 

legislation,  that  relating  to  divorce,  he  said  that  it 
was  given  on  account  of  "  the  hardness  "  of  men's 
hearts ;  that  is,  their  rude,  uncivilized  condition,  and 
their  moral  obtuseness  (]Matt.  xix.  8).  The  Mosaic 
law  required  a  man  who  wished  to  be  rid  of  his 
wife,  to  give  her  a  written  testimony  which  should 
protect  her — when  all  women  separate  from  a 
family  were  castaways — and  enabled  her  to  contract 
marriage  with  another  man.  This  was  a  limit  to 
the  husband's  arbitrary  prerogative,  a  restraint  put 
upon  him,  and  so  far  an  approach  to  the  full  recog- 
nition of  her  marital  rights,  and  of  the  sacred  char- 
acter of  the  marriage-tie.  It  was  a  step  in  the  right 
direction,  and  as  long  a  step,  considering  the  state 
of  society  then  existing,  as  could  be  taken.  To 
attempt  more  would  have  been  to  rush  into  doc- 
trmaire  legislation  of  the  most  impracticable  char- 
acter. To  complain  of  this  old  divorce  law,  one 
of  the  various  enactments  by  which  the  Hebrew 
wife  and  the  Hebrew  family  finally  attained  to  a 
position  which  they  held  in  no  heathen  nation,  and 
by  which  safeguards  were  set  around  the  purity  of 
the  household, — to  complain  of  this  law  is  as  illogi- 


30  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

cal  as  it  is  for  advocates  of  temperance  to  pronounce 
every  license  law  immoral,  when,  if  the  law  were 
called  restrictive  (as  it  might  be),  the  whole  force 
of  their  objection  would  vanish.  It  is  not  less 
unreasonable  than  it  would  be  to  complain  of  the 
civil  law  at  present,  because,  while  it  prohibits  and 
punishes  certain  forms  of  slander,  it  publishes  no 
statute  for  the  detection  and  punishment  of  gossip 
and  petty  defamation  ;  as  if  the  forbidding  of  one 
offence  involved  an  approval  of  the  other. 

Now,  an  application  of  the  fact  of  the  gradual- 

ness  and  partialness  of  revelation  will  remove  most, 

if  not  all,  of  the  moral  difficulties  which 

Removal  of 

difficulties.  j^j^g  j,^jggj  ^y'^j^  regard  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. "Whoever  discerns  distinctly  this  fact — 
which  is  a  perfectly  manifest  fact — will  have  gained 
a  point  of  view  where  the  major  part  of  these  diffi- 
culties disappear  of  themselves.  Without  this  his- 
torical sense,  without  a  sympathetic  appreciation 
of  the  condition  of  mankind  in  the  far-distant  ages 
when  the  movement  of  revelation  began,  the  old 
dispensation  and  the  Old  Testament  can  never  be 
understood.     Those  who  have  no  dislike  for  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  31 

New  Testameut,  but  liave  only  hard  words  for  the 
Old,  who  can  honor  the  heavenly  Father  of  whom 
Christ  speaks,  but  find  the  Jehovah  of  the  law  and 
the  prophets  repulsive,  may  be  compared  to  one 
who  relishes  a  ripe  and  juicy  peach,  but  has  no 
patience  with  the  rough  and  bitter  peach-stone  from 
which  the  tree  sprang. 

The  benign  tendencies  and  effect  of  the  institu- 
tions and  laws  of  the  Old  Testament,  when  com- 
pared with  the  legislation  of  all  other     Laws  of 

the  Old 

ancient  nations,  have  been  often  demon-  Testament. 
strated.  One  of  the  most  lucid  discussions  of  the 
subject,  in  a  brief  compass,  is  that  of  Professor 
Goldwin  Smith,  in  his  tract  entitled  "  Does  the 
Bible  sanction  American  Slavery?"  He  justly 
characterizes  the  Old-Testament  legislation  as  "  a 
code  of  laws,  the  beneficence  of  which  is  equally 
unapproached  by  any  code,  and  least  of  all  by  any 
Oriental  code,  not  produced  under  the  influence  of 
Christianity."  The  purpose  was  not  to  transform 
society  by  a  miracle.  That  is  not  the  method  of 
God.  The  Jewish  code  brought  in  no  barbarous 
institution  or  custom.     Its  aim  and  result  are  to 


32  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

reform,  mitigate,  and  finally  abolish  evil  usages 
already  existing.  Take  the  laws  respecting  the 
avenger  of  blood.  This  wild  kind  of  justice  is 
well-nigh  universal  among  primitive  tribes.  The 
Old  Testament  did  not  attempt  to  abolish  it  at  a 
stroke,  but  laid  upon  it  useful  restrictions.  The 
avenger  could  punish  no  sort  of  homicide  but 
wilful  murder ;  the  innocent  slayer  was  furnished 
with  a  safe  retreat ;  no  money  was  to  be  taken  in 
satisfaction  for  blood  ;  hereditary  feuds  were  for- 
bidden ;  judges  were  provided  in  all  the  tribes  to 
arbitrate  between  the  slayer  and  avenger.^  Thus  a 
reign  of  law  was  introduced  which  in  time  must 
supplant,  and  actually  did  supplant,  private  venge- 
ance. Take  the  laws  relative  to  the  right  of 
asylum,  another  ancient  institution  existing  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  prominent  in  the 
middle  ages  among  the  semi-civilized  European 
nations.  In  old  times  it  was  a  beneficent  check 
upon  lawless  violence.  It  furnished  safe  retreats 
for  the  unprotected ;  but  gross  abuses  always  arose 

*  Num.  xxxvi. ;  Deut.  xxi.  16. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  33 

in  connection  with  it.  Superstitions  about  sacred 
places  and  the  immunity  of  criminals  were  con- 
nected with  it.  The  Mosaic  law  recognized  the 
custom.  It  established  six  cities  of  refuge.  But 
these  were  not  for  the  wilful  murderer.  He  was 
to  be  dragged  from  the  altar.^  The  cities  were  not 
to  be  holy  places.  They  were  for  the  shelter  of 
the  sojourner  as  well  as  of  the  Jew.  The  fugitive 
was  not  compelled  to  stay  in  them  forever  :  he 
might  leave  the  asylum  with  impunity  on  the  death 
of  the  high  priest.^  Look  at  the  laAvs  respecting 
paternal  authority.  In  patriarchal  society  the  rule 
of  the  father  was  supreme  and  absolute.  It  con- 
tinued to  be  an  unqualified  despotism  among  the 
Romans.  A  Roman  father  had  the  leral  riffht  to 
take  the  lives  of  his  wife  and  children.  As  late  as 
the  time  of  Seneca,  Erixon,  a  Eoman  knight,  put 
his  son  to  death.  Under  the  Mosaic  law  a  mother 
must  concur  with  the  father  in  an  accusation  against 
a  rebellious  son.  There  must  be  a  charge  before 
"the  elders," — a  solemn  public  proceeding.^   Poly- 


»  Exod.  xxl  14.    ^  Num.  xxxv.  26-28.    » Deut.  xxi.  18-22. 


34  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

gamy  prevailed  in  primitive  times.  A  woman 
disconnected  from  a  family  was  the  most  forlorn 
of  beings.  She  was  a  miserable  outcast.  The 
Mosaic  law  did  not  abolish  polygamy,  but  it  alle- 
viated its  evils.  If  one  wife  was  hated  and  an- 
other favored,  still  the  first-born  child,  if  it  was 
"hers  that  was  hated,"  should  inherit  a  double 
portion.^  It  may  be  here  remarked  that  woman 
among  the  Hebrews  was  never  degraded  as  in 
most  Oriental  countries.  In  the  decalogue,  adul- 
tery and  the  coveting  of  a  neighbor's  wife  or 
maid-servant  were  prohibited.  Crimes  against  the 
purity  of  matron  or  maid  were  rigorously  pun- 
ished. Among  the  leaders  celebrated  in  Hebrew 
story  were  such  as  Miriam  and  Deborah.  Millen- 
niums before  the  discussions  of  our  day  upon  the 
emancipation  of  women  Deborah  was  a  judge  in 
Israel.  The  description  of  a  virtuous  housewife 
in  the  Proverbs  ^ — the  woman  "in  whom  the  heart 
of  her  husband  doth  safely  trust " — exhibits  the 
Hebrew  ideal  of  the  wife  and  mother.     Inhuman 

'  Deut.  xxi.  15-17.  *  Prov.  xxxi.  10-31. 


THE  CHBISTIAN  RELIGION.  35 

as  the  rules  of  war  were  among  the  aucieut  Hebrews, 
the  Mosaic  legislation  on  this  subject  was  for  that 
day  humane.  The  opportunity  was  to  be  given 
to  a  besieged  city  to  surrender  and  to  become 
tributary.  The  inhabitants  had  the  option  of 
saving  their  lives.^  The  Hebrews  were  forbidden 
to  do  as  the  Greeks  did, — cut  down  the  fruit-trees 
in  a  district  which  they  invaded.  If  an  attractive 
female  was  captured,  she  might  be  taken  to  wife, 
and  then  must  be  treated  as  a  wife ;  but  it  was 
forbidden  "  to  sell  her  at  all  for  money."  ^  Who- 
ever has  read  Homer,  or  studied  the  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  monuments,  or  even  read  the  history 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  may  be  safely  trusted 
to  pronounce  a  judgment  on  the  spirit  and  tendency 
of  this  legislation.  The  Jews  w'ere  forced  to  fight 
in  self-defence,  surrounded  as  they  were  by  power- 
ful and  aggressive  nations.  But  they  did  not 
become  a  warlike  people.  War  was  never  the 
great  occupation ;  military  distinction  never  counted 
for  so  much  as  was  the  case  in  other  nations ;  and 

>  Deut.  XX.  10  ;  Deut.  xx.  19,  20.  '  Deut.  xxi.  10. 


36  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

there  were  checks  upon  enforced  military  service, 
as  remarkable  as  they  were  beneficent. 

Professor  Gold\vin  Smith  has  just  observations 
respecting  monarchy  among  the  Hebrews.  Their 
Monarchy       Icaders  rccognizcd  the  advantages  of  a 

among  tlie  i     /»  i       •  i 

Hebrews.  free  commonwealth,  and  telt  it  to  be 
more  consonant  with  their  idea  and  function  as  a 
people.  But  when  the  peoj)le — being  what  they 
were — preferred  monarchy,  monarchy  was  allowed. 
But  the  Hebrew  kings  were  not  Oriental  despots. 
They  reigned  by  consent  of  the  people.  There 
were  laws  which  set  a  limit  to  their  prerogatives. 
There  were  fearless  prophets  to  rebuke  and  de- 
nounce the  proudest  of  them.  The  right  of 
revolution  was  maintained.  No  such  man  as 
Nebuchadnezzar  would  have  been  endured  by  the 
Hebrew  people. 

Respecting  Hebrew  worship.  Professor  Goldwin 
Smith  remarks,- 

"  All  the  nations  worshipped  God  by  sacrifice  and  through 
Hebrew  outward  forms  till  the  mind  of  man  had  been 

Worship.  raised  high  enough  to  worship  in  spirit  and  in 

truth.    The  Hebrew  law-giver  did  not  originate  sacrificial 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  37 

rites,  but  he  elevated  and  purified  them,  and  guarded  them 
against  the  most  horrible  aberrations  as  to  the  nature  of  God, 
and  the  mode  of  winning  his  favor  and  averting  his  wrath, 
as  all  who  know  the  history  of  heathen  sacrifices.  Eastern  or 
Western,  must  perceive.  The  scapegoat  has  been  and  is  a 
subject  of  much  mockery  to  philosophers.  Moses  did  not 
introduce  that  symbolic  way  of  relieving  the  souls  of  a 
people  from  the  burden  of  sin,  and  assuring  them  of  the 
mercy  of  God ;  but  he  took  care  that  the  scapegoat  should 
be  a  goat,  and  not,  as  at  polished  Athens  and  civilized  Rome, 


The  Levites  were  not  a  sacerdotal  caste.  They 
were  set  apart  for  service  in  tlie  ritual  by  the  laying- 
on  of  the  hands  of  "  the  children  of  Israel,"  who 
were  gathered  in  an  assembly  for  the  purpose. 
The  right  to  teach  was  not  confined  to  the  priestly 
class.  The  prophet  held  a  more  exalted  station 
than  the  priest;  and  one  might  be  called,  like 
Amos,  to  the  prophetic  office,  whose  occupation 
had  been  to  tend  sheep. 

Slavery  has  existed  among  all,  or  nearly  all,  un- 
civilized   nations.      It    was    universal      ,  , 

Hebrew 

among  the  peoples  of  antiquity.     The     Slavery. 
lives  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  conquered  place  were 


38  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

forfeited  by  the  laws  of  war.  They  might,  at  the 
option  of  the  captor,  be  reduced  to  slavery.  Patri- 
archal slavery,  as  it  is  depicted  iu  the  Bible,  was 
the  mildest  form  of  servitude.  It  was  domestic 
slavery  :  the  servant  was  one  of  the  family,  was  a 
companion  of  the  master,  was  brought  into  religious 
fellowship  with  him,  and,  like  a  feudal  vassal, 
was  armed  in  his  defence.  Slavery,  as  regu- 
lated by  the  Mosaic  enactments,  when  compared 
with  slavery  as  defined  and  practised  under  Roman 
law,  or  even  among  modern  nations,  Avas  a  humane 
institution.  A  Hebrew  might  become  a  slave  vol- 
untarily, on  account  of  poverty,  or  he  might  be 
reduced  to  slavery  as  a  penalty  for  theft.  But  his 
servitude  was  terminable  by  the  satisfaction  of  just 
claims  upon  him,  or  by  the  recurrence  of  the  year 
of  jubilee,  which  emancipated  all  slaves  of  Hebrew 
extraction  ;  and,  in  any  event,  by  the  expiration  of 
six  years  from  the  time  when  he  became  a  slave. 
His  master  was  enjoined  to  treat  him  not  as  "  a 
bond-servant,"  but  as  "  an  hired  servant,"  and 
"not  to  rule  over  him  with  rigor,"  When  his 
servitude  came  to  an  end,  his  master  was  forbidden 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  39 

"  to  let  him  go  away  empty."  ^  With  regard  to 
marriage,  a  master  might  give  to  a  Hebrew  slave  a 
uou-Hebrew  wife,  herself  a  slave,  for  the  time  of 
his  servitude ;  but  she  and  her  children  remained 
with  the  master, — a  provision  which,  however 
harsh  it  may  appear  to  us,  was  not  harsh  when 
compared  with  the  ordinary  codas  and  customs  of 
slavery.  A  father  might,  for  money,  dispose  of 
his  daughter;  but  this  was  with  a  view  to  her 
marriage,  and  was  one  branch  of  the  patria potestas, 
the  paternal  prerogative.  The  purchase-money 
might  be  looked  upon  somewhat  in  the  light  of  a 
dower.  Enactments  M'ere  carefully  made  for  her 
protection  in  case  she  did  not  become  a  wife  of  the 
one  to  whom  she  was  given,  or  of  his  son.^  As 
regards  non-Hebrew  slaves,  they  might  be  manu- 
mitted. There  were  regulations  for  their  protection 
and  comfort,  such  as  no  other  ancient  nation  framed. 
The  wilful  murder  of  a  slave  was  visited  Avith  the 
same  penalty  as  the  murder  of  a  freeman.      A 


*Exod.  xxi.  2,  seq.;  Dent.  xv.  12-15. 
'  Exod.  xxi.  7-10. 


40  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

serious  injury,  such  as  the  loss  of  an  eye  or  a  tooth, 
was  to  be  recompensed  by  giving  the  slave  his 
liberty.  Kidnapping,  and  the  surrender  of  fugi- 
tive slaves  flying  from  a  heathen  master,  were 
punished.  The  general  treatment  of  slaves  under 
the  Old-Testament  law  was  gentle.  Tlie  Hebrew 
is  most  emphatically  commanded  to  be  kind  to  the 
stranger,  and  not  to  maltreat  or  oppress  him. 
"  Thou  shalt  neither  vex  a  stranger,  nor  oppress 
him ;  for  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt." 
"  For  the  Lord  your  God  is  a  God  of  gods,  and 
Lord  of  lords,  a  great  God,  a  mighty  and  a  terrible, 
which  regardeth  not  persons,  nor  taketh  reward. 
He  doth  execute  the  judgment  of  the  fatherless 
and  widow,  and  loveth  the  stranger,  in  giving  him 
food  and  raiment.  Love  ye,  therefore,  the  stranger ; 
for  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt."  The 
slave,  like  his  master,  did  no  work  one  day  in 
seven.  He  partook  with  the  fomily  in  the  most 
solemn  acts  of  public  worship.  He  even  took  part 
in  the  family  festival  of  the  Passover.  There  was 
no  policy  looking  to  the  multiplying  of  slaves. 
There  were  no  slave-markets.     Israel  was  never  a 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  41 

"slave-power"  as  were  Athens,  Rome,  and  other 
ancient  states. 

We  may  pause  for  a  moment  to  advert  to  the 
attitude  of  Christianity  toward  slavery.  If  Christi- 
anity had  made  war  directly  on  the  con-  ^,  .  .  . 
stitutiou  of  society,  had  undertaken  to  ""'i  Slavery. 
reduce  the  government  of  Nero  to  a  moderate  and 
legitimate  exercise  of  authority,  had  attempted  to 
define  the  distinction  between  just  service  and  un- 
just servitude, — if  Christianity  had  attempted  these 
things,  it  would  have  had  a  short  stay  in  the  world. 
What  did  the  apostles  do  ?  They  inculcated  the 
golden  rule.  They  insisted  on  the  equality  of  men 
before  God.  They  enjoined  the  exercise  of  justice 
and  love.  They  taught  that  both  master  and  slave 
had  a  Master  in  common,  to  whom  both  were 
answerable.  They  counselled  slaves  not  to  resist 
even  harsh  masters,  but  to  bear  their  sufferings 
with  patience  and  fortitude.  They  bade  masters 
render  to  their  bond-servants  that  which  is  just  and 
equal.  Paul  sent  back  Ouesimus  to  Philemon,  no 
longer  as  a  servant,  but  as  a  brother  beloved.  In 
a  word.  Christian  ethics,  or  the  bearings  of  the  law 


42  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

of  love  on  social  relations,  were  not  developed  in 
all  their  ramifications  in  a  moment.  They  were 
left  to  be  brought  gradually  to  the  consciousness 
of  Christian  men,  and  thus  to  be  intelligently  and 
peacefully  realized  in  social  organization.  If  Chris- 
tianity did  not  abolish  slavery  by  an  instantaneous 
decree,  which  would  have  been  only  a  brutumfuhnen, 
it  put  gunpowder  under  the  system.  For  it  -svas  the 
influence  of  the  gospel  which  eventually  abolished 
slavery  in  the  Roman  Empire  and  serfdom  in  the 
Middle  Ages ;  and  it  is  the  direct  and  indirect  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  which  has  abolished  modern 
slavery,  notwithstanding  the  defence  of  it  by  un- 
discerning  or  interested  clergymen  and  churches. 

We  return  to  the  Old  Testament.     There  was 

one  thing  which  the  Hebrews  were  to  regard  with 

unsparins:  hatred.     This  was  idolatry. 

Hatred  of  r  &  ^ 

Idolatry.  rpj^^^,  ^^,^^,^  ^j^^  choseu  pcoplc.  They 
were  chosen  to  be  the  recipients  of  a  revelation  ;  to 
form  a  community  in  which  the  only  living  and 
true  God  should  be  alone  worshipped, — through 
which  monotheism  should  be  ])lanted  on  the  earth, 
and  a  priceless  gift  be  prepared  for  all  nations. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  43 

What  shall  be  said  of  the  extermination  of  the 
Canaauites?  The  moral  questions  involved  in  this 
topic  are  so  grave  and  momentous,  that,  Extermina- 
if  it  were  to  be  discussed  adequately,  a  cauaanites. 
large  space  would  be  requisite  for  their  full  treat- 
ment.    But  I  venture  upon  a  few  observations. 

In  the  first  place,  what  reason  is  alleged  for  the 
driving  out  of  these  tribes,  and  for  destroying  them 
root  and  branch  ?    One  reason  was  their     Reasons  for 

,     ,      .,  T  .  .  destroying 

unexampled  vileness  and  impurity.  An-  t'lem. 
other  reason  was  the  contamination  which  would 
make  association  with  them  the  ruin  of  the  Israel- 
ites. These  old  Canaanite  tribes  were  steeped  in  a 
worse  than  brutal  sensuality.  The  foulest  incest 
was  not  the  extreme  point  of  their  pollution. 
With  this  bestiality  was  joined  a  cruelty  which 
made  human  sacrifices,  the  flinging  of  children 
alive  into  the  flames  to  appease  their  gods,  congenial 
to  them.^  Many  of  them  fled  to  Tyre  and  other 
Phoenician  towns.  From  what  we  know  of  Carth- 
age, which  was  settled   by  Canaanite  worshippers 

^  See  Lev.  xviii. 


44  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

of  Baal  aud  Ashtaroth,  we  can  get  an  idea  of  the 
savage  rites  of  their  idolatry.  In  the  flourishing 
days  of  that  city,  hundreds  of  innocent  boys,  be- 
longing to  the  best  families,  were  thrown  into  the 
fire  as  a  sacrifice  to  Moloch,  the  "  horrid  king "  of 
the  old  Canaanite  religion.  "  The  land  is  defiled : 
therefore  I  do  visit  the  iniquity  thereof  upon  it, 
aud  the  land  itself  vomiteth  forth  its  inhabitants."  ^ 
The  Israelites  were  warned  not  to  follow  the  course 
of  the  Canaanites,  "  That  the  land  spew  not  you 
out,  also,  as  it  spewed  out  the  nations  that  were 
before  you."  These  degraded  tribes  were  to  be 
rooted  out,  "  That  they  teach  you  not  to  do  after 
all  these  abominations,  which  they  have  done  unto 
their  gods."^ 

In  the  second  place,  that  the  Israelites,  animated 
with  faith  in  the  true  God,  taught  to  detest  the 

Israelites'  Unspeakable  wickedness  of  the  Canaan- 
sense  of  a         .  , 

mission.  ite    tribcs,   considered   themselves    in- 

trusted with  a  mission  to  execute  God's  judgment 
upon  them,  to  drive  them  out  and  destroy  them, 

*  Lev.  xviii.  25.  ^  Deut.  xx.  18. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  45 

and  to  make  room  for  that  true  religion,  of  which 
they  were  the  exdusive  representatives  on  earth,  is 
an  historical  fact.  When  they  saw  afterward  the 
mischief  that  resulted  from  the  influence  of  the 
remnant  of  the  Canaauites  that  were  left,  they 
were  confirmed  in  the  conviction  that  their  destruc- 
tion was  the  just  ordinance  of  God.  They  felt  that 
a  sacred  obligation  rested  on  them  to  sweep  the 
ground  clean. 

In  the  third  place,  tlie  beneficent  results  of  re- 
vealed religion,  the  benefits  which  have  gone  forth 
to  mankind,  and  aiiijear  in  the  Christian 

'  ^  ^  Beneficent 

civilization  of  to-day,  were  contingent,  i«'^"''«- 
as  far  a.s  we  can  judge,  on  the  extermination  of 
these  tribes.  I  shall  quote  here  from  two  accom- 
plished historical  scholars,  neither  of  whom  can  be 
accused  of  a  lack  of  humane  feeling,  and  neither 
of  whom  is  wedded  to  traditional  theological  beliefs. 
Professor  Goldwin  Smith  remarks  on  this  topic  of 
"the  penal  destruction  of  the  Canaauites," — 

"  Had  they  been  spared,  and  reduced  to  slavery,  the  result, 
judging  from  analogy,  would  have  l)een  the  deep  corruption 
of  the  chosen  people.    "With  abundance  of  slave-labor,  the 


46  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

Jews  would  not  have  taken  to  industry,  nor  have  acquired  the 
virtues  which  industry  alone  can  produce  and  guard.  Their 
fate  would  have  been  like  that  of  the  Turks  and  other  conquer- 
ing hordes  of  the  East,  which,  the  rush  of  conquest  once  over, 
have  sunk  into  mere  sloth  and  abject  sensuality.  And,  if  the 
morals  of  the  Canaanites  are  truly  painted  in  the  Pentateuch, 
the  possession  of  such  slaves  would  have  been  depraving  in  the 
highest  degree." 

More  emphatic  still  are  the  words  of  Dr.  Aruold  : 

"  It  is  better  that  the  wicked  should  be  destroyed  a  hundred 
times  over  tiian  that  they  should  tempt  those  who  are  as  yet 
innocent  to  join  their  company.  Let  us  but  think  what  might 
have  been  our  fate,  and  the  fate  of  every  nation  under  heaven 
at  this  hour,  had  the  sword  of  the  Israelites  done  its  work 
more  sparingly.  Even  as  it  was,  the  small  portions  of  the 
Canaanites  who  were  left,  and  the  nations  around  them,  so 
tempted  the  Israelites  by  their  idolatrous  practices,  that  we 
read  continually  of  the  whole  people  of  God  turning  away 
from  his  service.  But  had  the  heathen  lived  in  the  land  in 
equal  numbers,  and,  still  more,  had  they  intermarried  largely 
with  the  Israelites,  how  was  it  possible,  humanly  speaking, 
that  any  sparks  of  the  light  of  God's  truth  should  have  sur- 
vived to  the  coming  of  Christ  ?  Would  not  the  Israelites  have 
lost  all  their  peculiar  character  ?  And,  if  they  had  retained 
the  name  of  Jehovah  as  of  their  God,  would  they  not  have 
formed  as  unworthy  notions  of  his  attributes,  and  worshipped 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION  47 

him  with  a  worsliip  ;is  abominable  as  that  which  the  Moabites 
paid  to  Cheraosh,  or  the  Philistines  to  Dagon  ? 

"  But  this  was  not  to  be,  and  therefore,  the  nations  of  Canaan 
were  to  be  cut  off  utterly.  The  Israelites'  sword,  in  its  bloodiest 
executions,  wrought  a  work  of  mercy  for  all  the  countries  of 
the  earth  to  the  very  end  of  the  world.  They  seem  of  very 
small  importance  to  us  now,  tliose  perpetual  contests  with  the 
Canaanites  and  the  Midianites  and  the  Ammonites  and  the 
Philistines,  witli  which  the  Books  of  Joshua  and  Judges  and 
Samuel  are  almost  filled.  We  may  half  wonder  that  God 
should  have  interfered  in  such  quarrels,  or  have  changed  the 
course  of  nature,  in  order  to  give  one  of  these  nations  of  Pales- 
tine the  victory  over  another.  But,  in  these  contests,  on  the 
fate  of  one  of  these  nations  of  Palestine  the  happiness  of  the 
human  race  depended.  The  Israelites  fought  not  for  them- 
selves only,  but  for  us.  It  might  follow  that  they  should  thus 
be  accounted  the  enemies  of  all  mankind  ;  it  might  be  that 
they  were  tempted  by  their  very  distinctness  to  despise  other 
nations :  still  they  did  God's  work  ;  still  they  preserved  un- 
hurt the  seed  of  eternal  life,  and  were  the  ministers  of  blessing 
to  all  other  nations,  even  though  they  themselves  failed  to 
enjoy  it."  ^ 

It  is  pertinent  to  remind  the  reader  that  acts 
occurring  in  recent  times  resembling  the  destruction 

^  Quoted  by  Stanley :  "  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,"  I., 
283. 


48  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

of  the  Canaanites  have  been  approved,  whether 
justly  or  not,  by  writers  of  high  repute.  Of  the 
massacre  by  Cromwell  at  the  siege  of  Drogheda, 
Carlyle  says, — 

"  Oliver's  proceedings  have  been  the  theme  of  much  loud 
criticism  and  sibylline  execration,  into  which  it  is  not  our 
plan  to  enter  at  present.  Terrible  surgery  this ;  but  is  it 
surgery  and  judgment,  or  atrocious  murder  merely  ?  That  is 
a  question  which  should  be  asked,  or  answered.  Oliver  Crom- 
well did  believe  in  God's  judgments,  and  did  not  believe  in 
the  rose-water  plan  of  surgery ;  which,  in  fact,  is  this  editor's 
case  too.  .  .  .  An  armed  soldier  solemnly  conscious  to  himself 
that  he  is  the  soldier  of  God  the  Just, — a  consciousness  which 
it  well  beseems  all  soldiers  and  all  men  to  have  always, — 
armed  soldier,  terrible  as  Death,  relentless  as  Doom ;  doing 
God's  judgments  on  the  enemies  of  God !  It  is  a  phenomenon 
not  of  a  joyful  nature ;  no,  but  of  awful,  to  be  looked  at  with 
pious  terror  and  awe." 

In  the  fourth  place,  as  far  as  the  eiFeet  upon  the 

Israelites  of  this  war  of  extermination  is  concerued, 

there  was  no  wounding  of  sensibility. 

Effect  on  the  ^  •' 

Israelites.  There  was  no  such  departure  from  the 
prevalent  ideas  and  the  prevalent  usages  of  war,  as 
would  produce  a  moral  deterioration  in  the  Israelites 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  49 

themselves.  Rather  is  it  true,  that,  feeling  them- 
selves the  deputies  of  the  Supreme  God  for  the 
infliction  of  righteous  penalties,  and  for  carrying 
out  his  purpose,  they  would  perform  their  stern 
task  with  a  kind  of  sacred  enthusiasm,  distinct 
from  personal  revenge  and  malice,  and  impressed 
at  every  step  with  their  own  exposure  to  a  like 
retribution  in  case  they  should  fall  back  into  the 
pollutions  of  heathenism.  An  act  which,  though 
enjoined  by  just  authority,  and  in  its  ultimate 
results  beneficent,  it  might  not  have  been  possible 
for  a  people  on  a  higher  stage  of  moral  develop- 
ment to  perform  without  a  hardening  effect  on 
themselves,  the  Israelites  could  do  with  no  such 
consequence  flowing  from  it. 

As  to  the  Canaanites  themselves,  they  endured  a 
retribution  which  has  often  been  inflicted,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  Providence,  on  cor- 

.  ,  Analogies. 

rupt  and  enervated  races,  gomg  down 
before   the   power  of  a  more   vigorous   invading 
people.     In  the  case  before  us  the  Supreme  Ruler 
employed  human  instruments  directly  designated, 
and  therefore  justly  empowered,  for  the  purpose. 


50  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

Yet  on  this  view  it  may  still  be  said  with  truth 
that  the  iujunction  to  drive  out  the  barbarian  tribes 
took  the  form  that  it  did  on  account  of  "the  hard- 
ness of  their  hearts."  Had  they  been  more  sus- 
ceptible to  gentler  motives,  less  inclined  themselves 
to  sink  into  debasing  idolatry,  and  had  their  moral 
sense  been  capable  of  discriminations  which  Christi- 
anity has  made  familiar,  the  mission  given  to  them 
might  have  been  different.  It  might  then  have 
been  as  safe  for  Israelites  to  mingle  with  the  heathen 
as  it  was  in  later  ages,  when  no  seductions  and  no 
terrors  could  move  them  to  take  part  in  idolatry. 

I  am  not  satisfied  that  the  foregoing  remarks  do 

not  embrace  the  elements  of  a  fair  solution  of  the 

problem  presented  by  this  page  of  the 

Alternative        ^  ^  j  l    o 

solution.  sacred  history.  But  if  any  think  that 
this  solution,  in  the  light  of  the  gospel,  by  which 
every  thing  is  to  be  judged,  is  insufficient,  the 
alternative  remains  to  consider — not  the  abhorrence 
of  idolatry,  not  the  disposition  to  put  far  from  them 
its  orgies  and  pollutions — but  the  connected  im- 
pulse to  destroy  and  exterminate  which  those  feel- 
ings engendered,  as  not  inspired  of  God,  but  as  a 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  51 

natural  impulse  and  emotion  on  that  stage  of  moral 
discernment  which,  on  the  one  hand,  was  elevated 
above  the  obtuseness  of  conscience  out  of  which 
they  had  been  lifted  by  the  liglit  of  revelation,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  not  so  far  elevated  above  it 
as  to  enable  them  to  think  of  other  means  of  attain- 
ing the  desired  end.  On  this  theory  another  view 
must  be  taken  respecting  the  inspiration  of  these 
passages  in  tlie  record.  They  must  be  considered 
as  reflecting  the  judgment  of  the  men  of  "the  old 
time "  respecting  the  deed  of  the  Israelites.  That 
deed  must  be  held  to  have  sprung,  not  from  an 
explicit  injunction,  but  from  the  dictate  of  a  holy, 
yet  imperfectly  holy,  sentiment.  The  espousal  of 
this  view,  however,  does  not  deprive  a  man  of  the 
title  of  Christian,  Whether  true  or  false,  it  can 
be  held  consistently  with  the  belief  that  Jesiis  Christ 
is  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
This  belief  it  is  which  makes  a  man  a  Christian.' 

To  sum  up  what  I  have  to  say  here  upon  the  Old- 
Testament  system:     It  was   a   national   religion. 

*  Matt.  xvi.  16-18  ;  John  iv.  42,  vi.  69. 


52  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

Without  a  stupendous  and  continuous  miracle,  in 
no  other  way  could  the  true  religion  get  a  foot- 
The  Old  hold  on  the  earth.     But  miracle  is  not 

system.  magic.     At  that  time  all  religions  were 

tribal.  The  Hebrews  were  organized  by  the  act 
of  God  into  a  theocratic  community.  He  assumed 
toward  them  the  relation  of  a  lawgiver.  His  legis- 
lation, given  through  j)rophets,  extended  over  all 
matters  of  which  government  was  expected  to  take 
cognizance.  Idolatry  was  weeded  out  by  express 
enactments.  Apostasy  from  God  was  at  once  im- 
piety and  treason.  Penalties  were  inflicted  upon 
overt  irreligion,  not  through  the  agency  of  natural 
law  only,  as  on  the  broad  field  of  the  world,  but 
through  civil  law,  which  was  acknowledged  to 
emanate  directly  from  God.  The  uncivilized  in- 
stincts of  men  were  more  and  more  curbed  by 
wholesome  enactments  adapted  to  their  condition. 
Increasing  disclosures  of  the  character  of  God  puri- 
fied the  popular  conception  of  him.  As  revelation 
advanced,  the  standard  of  piety  and  morality  rose 
to  a  higher  grade.  Holiness  came  to  be  a  word 
full  of  the  most  sacred  meaning.     Conscience  was 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  53 

disciplined.  Aspirations  for  a  nearer  access  to  God, 
for  a  wider  reign  of  God,  were  awakened.  A  more 
full  revelation  was  anticipated  in  the  dim  future. 
To  the  future  the  longing  ey&s  of  men  were  turned. 
At  length  the  day  came  for  the  true  religion  to  burst 
through  the  bonds  of  its  political  form  and  its  ex- 
ternal ritual.  The  true  King,  the  hope  of  prophecy, 
appeared,  not  as  the  head  of  a  single  commonwealth, 
but  as  the  Lord  and  Redeemer  of  mankind.  Theoc- 
racy reached  the  ideal  to  which  it  had  pointed,  and 
toward  which  it  had  striven,  from  the  beginning. 

7.  In  presenting  the  evidences  of  Christianity, 
the  facts  are  first  to  be  established.  The  facts 
which  are  principallv  called  in  question      ,,.     , 

i-  i-        -i  i  Miracles 

are  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  Gospels.  ^"^ '^'"^^'™ 
An  atheist  cannot  credit  tlie  narrative  of  a  miracle, 
for  he  knows  of  no  i:)ower  competent  to  perform 
one.  A  deist  who  believes  in  an  idle  deity  who 
lets  the  world  go  on  of  itself,  and  takes  little  inter- 
est in  the  well-being  of  men,  will  distrust  all  testi- 
mony to  miracles,  be  it  as  cogent  as  testimony  ever 
can  be.  But  a  theist,  whose  God  is  a  benevolent 
Being  and  pities  human  distress,  even  the  distress 


54  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

of  those  who  have  wilfully  forsaken  him,  will 
regard  a  revelation  as  not  improbable,  and  miracles, 
a  part  and  evidence  of  it,  as  not  unlikely  to 
occur. 

Without  considering,  for  the  present,  questions 

relating  to  the  authorship  and  date  of  the  Gospels, 

it  is  affirmed  to  be  impossible  to  account 

Proof  of  ^ 

miracles.  ^^^  ^j^g  beginnings  of  Christianity,  and 
for  facts  which  every  sensible  person  admits  respect- 
ing Christ,  his  teaching,  and  the  foundation  of  the 
Church,  without  allowing  that  miracles  such  as  are 
narrated  in  the  Gospels,  including  his  resurrection, 
were  actually  wrought.  The  known  fact — a  fact 
attested  by  the  Apostle  Paul,^  an  unimpeachable 
witness — that  the  apostles  themselves  professed  to 
work  miracles  by  a  power  derived  from  Christ 
makes  it  highly  probable  that  they  believed  mira- 
cles to  have  been  wrought  by  him.  What  made 
them  believe  this,  if  they  had  not  seen  them? 
Repeated  injunctions  of  Christ  not  to  report  his 
miracles  are  an  obviously  authentic  part  of  the 

iGal.  iu.  4;  2  Cor.  xii.  12. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  55 

gospel  history ;  and  this  proves  that  the  events  to 
which  these  injunctions  refer  actually  took  place. 
Cautions,  plainly  authentic,  proceeding  from  him, 
addressed  to  his  disciples,  against  making  too  much 
of  miracles,  are  a  proof  that  they  were  actually 
wrought.  There  is  teaching  of  Christ,  the  authen-.^.--? 
ticity  of  which  cannot  reasonably  be  disputedT' 
which  is  meaningless  unless  certain  miracles  were 
the  occasion  of  it.  An  example  is  the  message  sent 
to  John  the  Baptist,  when  he  inquired  if  Jesus  were 
really  the  Christ  (Matt.  xi.  4 ;  Luke  vii.  22).  Other 
examples  are  conversations  of  Jesus  with  over-rigid 
observers  of  the  sabbath  :  they  complained  that  he 
had  healed  the  sick  on  that  holy  day.  His  answer 
on  one  occasion  (Luke  xiv.  5)  implies  that  the  heal- 
ing was  of  a  desperate  malady.  The  charge  that 
Jesus  cast  out  demons  by  Beelzebub  proves  that  he 
restored  demoniacs,  like  the  madman  of  Gadam,  to 
reason  and  health.  The  resort  to  this  imputation 
proves  that  the  cures  of  this  kind  which  he  wrought 
were  not  parallel  with  any  exorcisms  with  which 
the  Jews  were  familiar.  The  fact  that  not  a  miracle 
is  attributed  to  John  the  Baptist  should  convince  one 


56  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

that  the  miracles  attributed  to  Jesus  were  really 
done.  John  was  considered  by  the  apostles  inferior 
to  none  of  the  prophets.  Why  are  not  marvellous 
works  connected  with  the  accounts  of  him?  Why 
are  no  miracles  ascribed  to  Jesus  himself  before  his 
public  ministry  ?  The  later  apocryphal  Gospels  do 
this,  but  not  the  Gospels  of  the  canon.  It  is  im- 
possible to  explain  the  faith  of  Jesus  in  himself  as 
the  Messiah,  or  the  persevering  faith  of  the  disciples 
in  him,  if  he  wrought  no  miracles.  Strauss  called 
the  miracles  myths,  growing  out  of  the  fixed  expec- 
tation that  the  Messiah,  when  he  should  come, 
would  do  such  works.  How,  then,  could  they  con- 
sider Jesus  the  Messiah  if  he  did  not  do  them  ?  To 
one  who  studies  the  gospel  history,  it  is  plain  that 
miracles  enter  into  the  nexus  of  well-attested  occur- 
rences, and  cannot  be  dissected  out  of  it.  The 
TheMiracie     crowuiug  miraclc  of  Christianity — the 

of  the  Res-  •  o    ^  •  i    i 

urrection.  rcsurrcctiou  01  Jesus — IS  supported  by 
proof  which  cannot  be  invalidated.  Everybody 
who  knows  anything  about  the  subject  will  con- 
cede that  the  unanimous  faith  of  the  apostles  in  the 
resurrection,  as  having  occurred  the  third  day  after 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  57 

his  deatli,  is  tlie  cause  of  tlie  continued  existence  of 
Christianity  beyond  that  date.  AMiether  Christi- 
anity should  survive  or  perish  turned  on  that  pivot. 
To  explain  that  belief  of  the  apostles,  for  which 
they  were  ready  to  lay  down  their  lives, — that 
inspiring  belief  which  raised  tliem  from  the  depths 
of  despondency,  and  transformed  them  from  timid 
fugitives  to  courageous  heralds,  going  forth  to  con- 
front and  conquer  all  opposition, — to  explain  this 
belief,  if  it  was  not  founded  on  fact,  is  a  tough 
problem  for  scepticism  to  solve.  The  Apostle  Paul, 
who  was  converted  in  the  year  35,  about  five  years 
after  the  crucifixion  ;  who,  three  years  later,  spent 
a  fortnight  with  Peter  at  Jerusalem  ;  ^  who  was  con- 
versant at  the  time  with  the  testimony  given  by  the 
apostles, — presents  in  detail  the  successive  manifes- 
tations of  Jesus  to  them  and  to  the  other  disciples ; 
in  one  instance,  to  five  hundred  at  once.^  These 
interviews  were  a  definite  number  :  they  began  at  a 
certain  time ;  they  ceased  altogether  at  a  certain 
time.     This  circumstance,  taken  in  connection  with 

»  Gal.  i.  18.  »  1  Cor.  xv.  1-18. 


58  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

all  the  other  phenomena  which  no  candid  sceptic 
will  deny  to  have  entered  into  the  testimony  of  the 
apostles  on  this  subject,  excludes  the  theory  of  hal- 
lucination. Moreover,  the  psychological  conditions 
which  it  would  be  necessary  to  assume  in  order  to 
render  self-delusion  possible  on  their  part  were 
wholly  wanting.  They  were  mourning  as  for  a  lost 
cause.  Nothing  but  an  objective  event  of  the  most 
impressive  character  could  have  revived  their  spirit, 
and  produced  that  revulsion  of  feeling  out  of  which 
the  whole  subsequent  history  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion sprang.^ 

An  objection  to  the  credibility  of  the  gospel  mu*- 

acles  is  often  drawn  from  the  fabulous  miracles 

which  abound  in  the  records  of  pagan 

Objection 

from  fab-  antiquity,  and  in  the  legends  of  the 
miracles.  ^^.^^^^  The  objectiou  is  plausible ;  but 
it  is  fallacious  in  logic,  and  is.  based  on  a  superficial 
resemblance.  The  miracles  of  the  gospel  are  for  a 
higher  end  :  they  are  for  the  purpose  of  revelation. 


^  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  credibility  of  the    miracles, 
eee  my  work,  I'he  Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Christian  Belief. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  59 

They  mark  the  opening  epochs  in  the  estal)lish- 
mcnt  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  For  the 
diffusion  of  that  kingdom  they  are  not  required. 
Again,  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  were  not  wrought 
in  coincidence  with  a  prevailing  system,  and  for 
the  furtherance  of  it.  Tliey  had  not  the  enthu- 
siasm of  believers,  and  their  already  established 
faith  behind  them.  They  created  that  faith,  they 
kindled  that  enthusias^n.  This  is  a  most  significant 
difference.  Moreover,  the  temptations  to  fraud  in 
the  case  of  ecclesiastical  miracles  are  such  as  had 
no  place  when  Christianity  was  first  introduced  by 
Christ  and  the  apostles.  The  qualifications  of  the 
witnesses  to  mediaeval  and  patristic  marvels  cannot 
for  a  moment  be  compared  to  those  possessed  by 
the  disciples  of  Jesus.  Any  one  may  see  this  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  read  the  contemporary 
lives  of  St.  Francis.  Once  more,  the  gospel  mira- 
cles were  none  of  them  merely  tentative.  There 
were  not  a  few  instances  of  miraculous  cure  con- 
nected with  numerous  failures,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Jansenist  miracles,  referred  to  by  Hume.  Had 
this  been  the  fact,  vigilant  enemies  would   have 


60  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

blazoned  it  abroad  at  once.  I  do  not  dwell  on  the 
grotesque  character  of  the  ecclesiastical  miracles  as 
a  class,  in  compai'ison  with  the  dignity  of  those 
narrated  in  the  Gospels ;  nor  do  I  touch  on  other 
points  of  disparity  which  put  credulous  chroniclers 
of  antiquity  and  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  an  utterly 
diverse  category  as  regards  trustworthiness  from 
that  held  by  the  founders  and  first  teachers  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  miracles  without 
specially  considering  the  origin  of  the  Gospels. 
Genuine-        That  wc  have  in  these  narratives  the 

ness  of  the  , 

Gospels.  testnnony  substantially,  to  say  the  least, 

as  it  was  given  by  the  apostles,  there  is  no  valid 
reason  to  doubt.  To  begin  with  the  manuscripts  : 
The  allegation  that  because  we  have  not  the  origi- 
nal documents  we  do  not  know  whether  the  copies 
extant  are  not  falsified,  can  only  come  from  sheer 
ignorance.  It  is  impossible  to  account  for  the 
agreement  of  the  manuscripts  which  exist,  including 
the  most  ancient  Uncials, — to  make  no  account 
here  of  the  minor  diversities  which  give  occasion 
for  textual  criticism, — without  concluding  that  they 


THE  CliniSTIAN  RELIGION.  61 

correspond  to  tlic  original  compositions,  and  to  tlic 
copies  in  use  in  the  lifetime  of  the  authors,^  It  is 
a  sufficient  answer  to  illiterate  objections  of  this 
sort,  tliat  we  have  better  proofs  of  the  integrity  of 
the  Gospels  than  of  any  other  ancient  writings. 
They  were  in  use  by  numerous  widely  scattered 
societies.  These  could  not  have  conspired,  had 
they  been  so  disposed,  to  corrupt  the  text.  They 
appeared  in  early  translations,  as  the  Pe.sJiito,  or 
Syrian,  and  the  old  Italic,  the  basis,  in  part,  of  the 
Vulgate.  Tliey  are  quoted  by  a  body  of  ancient 
ecclesiastical  authors  in  the  East  and  West.  It  is 
enough  to  say,  that,  if  one  questions  the  integrity 
of  the  Gospels,  he  ought  never  to  quote  a  line  of 
Homer,  no  complete  manuscript  of  whom  is  older 
than  the  thirteenth  century.  He  ought  never  to 
cite  Marcus  Aurelius,  or  Plato,  or  any  other 
lieathen  sage.  In  truth,  he  should  never  refer  to 
ancient  liistory ;  for  the  bulk  of  our  information  re- 


^  For  the  proof  in  detail,  see  Norton's  "Genuineness  of  the 
Gospels,"  or  my  article,  "  How  the  New  Testament  came 
down  to  us,"  in  "  Scribner's  Montlily,"  February,  1881. 


62  THE  CHRISTIAN  EELIQION. 

specting  it  is  derived  directly  from  ancient  writers, 
whose  autograph  manuscripts  perished  long  ago, 
and  were  documents  concerning  which  we  have 
generally  far  less  evidence  than  we  have  respecting 
the  writings  of  the  New  Testament. 

As  to  the  authorship  of  the  Gospels,  I  will  state 
what  I  believe  to  be  the  outcome  of  sound  and  im- 
Authorship      partial  critical  study.    The  second  Gos- 

of  the  1  1  •   1  '  1  •    1  1 

Gospels.  pelj   which   many  now  think   to  have 

been  the  first  written,  is  the  Avork  of  Mark,  who 
was  for  a  time  a  companion  of  the  Apostle  Peter, 
and,  perhaps,  has  transferred  some  part  of  that 
apostle's  vivacity  to  his  pages.  On  the  ground  of 
a  comparison  of  the  contents  of  Mark  and  Matthew, 
some  have  contended  that  not  quite  all  of  the 
second  Gospel  in  its  present  form  emanated  from 
Mark,  but  that  a  portion  of  the  matter  was,  at  an 
early  day,  added  by  some  other  hand.  I  see  no 
good  reason  for  this  opinion.  There  are  no  traces 
of  a  proto-lNIark  in  antiquity.  The  third  Gospel 
and  the  Book  of  Acts  were  written  by  a  Gentile 
Christian,  who  journeyed  for  a  time  with  the 
Apostle  Paul,  and  whose  affirmation  that  he  had 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  63 

gathered  his  knowledge  of  the  words  and  actions 
of  Christ  from  eye-witnesses,  is  entitled  to  full 
credit.  The  first  Gospel  is  ascribed  to  Matthew 
by  the  early  Christian  writers  witliout  dissent, 
although  it  is  said  to  have  been  first  written  in  the 
Hebrew  language,  and  it  is  thought  now  to  have 
received  some  additional  matter  from  the  early 
disciple,  whoever  he  was,  who  transferred  it  into 
Greek.  It  existed  in  Greek  at  the  date  when  it  is 
spoken  of  by  Papias,  a  contemporary  of  the  Apos- 
tle John.  There  is  internal  evidence  Avhich,  in  my 
judgment,  is  of  a  most  convincing  character,  that 
these  throe  Gospels  existed  in  their  present  form 
about  A.  1).  70,  or  when  some  of  the  apostles,  and 
a  multitude  whom  they  had  taught,  were  still 
living.  The  genuineness  of  the  Gospel  of  John 
has  been  of  late  persistently,  bnt,  as  I  think, 
unsuccessfully  assailed.  If  there  are  difficulties 
connected  with  the  supposition  of  its  genuineness, 
there  are  far  greater  difficulties  attending  the 
opposite  hypothesis.  Only  one  fact  belonging  to 
the  external  evidence  may  here  be  given.  Ircnseus, 
a  man  of  unquestioned  probity.  Bishop  of  Lyons 


64  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century,  by  whom, 
as  by  all  of  his  contemporaries,  the  fourth  Gospel 
was  received  without  doubt  or  question,  had  per- 
sonally known  in  the  East  the  martyr  Polycarp, 
Bishop  of  Smyrna,  and  had  heard  him  describe 
the  appearance  and  manners  of  the  Apostle  John, 
whom  Polycarp  had  personally  known  at  Ephesus, 
where  the  apostle  spent  his  closing  years.  It  is 
morally  impossible  that  Irenseus  received  a  Gospel 
as  from  John  which  Polycarp  knew  nothing  of,  or 
that  Polycarp  could  have  been  mistaken  on  a  point 
like  this. 

When  all  the  literary  evidence  is  scanned,  and 
all  the  collateral  proofs  weighed,  the  conclusion 
The  apos-        will  bc  that  wc  liavc  presented  to  us  in 

ties'  testi- 
mony- the  Gospels  the  stoiy  which  the  apostles 

told  of  what  they  had  seen  and  heard  in  their 
intercourse  with  Jesus.  In  these  inartificial  narra- 
tives the  testimony  of  the  original  disciples  is 
fairly  laid  before  us. 

The  question  recurs.  Are  the  apostles  to  be  be- 
lieved ?  If  not,  shall  we  say  that  they  are  knaves 
or  that  they  are  fools  ?     The  idea  of  their  being 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  65 

knaves,  who  were  so  anxious  to  become  ^'  the  off- 
scouring  of  all  things  "  that  they  made  up  a  lie, — 
made  up  a  lie  for  the  pleasure  of  dying     credibility 

of  the 

for  it, — this  idea  is  liappily  obsolete,  apostles. 
But  were  they  fools  ?  Were  they  half-crazed  enthu- 
siasts who  imagined  that  they  saw  such  things  as 
the  cure  of  the  leper  after  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
or  the  stopping  of  the  bier  at  Nain,  and  the  raising 
from  the  dead  of  the  widow's  son,  when  no  such 
things  occurred  ?  Did  Jesus,  then,  who  is  lauded 
as  a  great  reformer,  as  one  who  knew  human 
nature,  a  teacher  of  pre-eminent  wisdom,  select  a 
band  of  fools  for  his  chosen  companions,  to  make 
up  his  family  ?  And  did  he  choose  them  for  the 
express  purpose  of  observing  what  he  should  say 
and  do,  that  they  might  go  forth  and  relate  it  to 
others?  In  what  light  does  this  theory  place 
Christ  ?  Turn  to  the  narratives  :  were  there  ever 
stronger  marks  of  truth  ?  Artless,  M-ith  no  effort 
to  parry  objections,  or  anticipate  cavils,  the  manner 
of  the  writers  is  that  of  honest  men.  The  narra- 
tive given  by  the  apostles  is  objective :  they  are 
taken  up  in  the  subject-matter ;  they  are  oblivious 


66  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

of  the  bearing  of  what  they  relate  on  their  own 
repute ;  they  tell  their  own  faults,  their  own 
unfaithfulness  to  Christ,  their  cowardice,  treachery, 
desertion.  They  set  down  the  sharp  rebukes  which 
they  received  from  his  lips.  There  is  no  effort  at 
concealment,  nor  is  tliere  any  trace  of  exaggeration. 
There  are  none  of  the  exclamations  of  wonder, 
none  of  the  expletives  and  asseverations  which 
belong  to  fictitious  testimony.  All  is  simple, 
unadorned,  marked  with  the  unmistakable  signs  of 
truthfulness.  These  are  witnesses  before  M-hose  eyes 
great  and  wonderful  things  have  passed, — so  great 
and  wonderful  that  in  the  presence  of  them  all 
personal  considerations  are  lost  out  of  sight.  If 
the  portrait  which  they  incidentally  present  of 
Jesus  in  his  transcendent  purity  and  goodness — a 
portrait  in  which  divine  authority,  and  power 
above  that  of  men,  are  strangely  yet  inseparably 
mingled  with  human  meekness  and  sympathy — 
does  not  correspond  to  a  reality  which  they  had 
seen  and  known,  then  who  gave  to  these  unprac- 
tised authors,  to  these  apostolic  Avitnesses,  destitute 
of  artistic  skill,  the  ability  to  produce  such  a  mar- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  67 

vellous  creation  of  fancy?      If  this  be,  indeed, 
their  creation,  let  us  worship  them  ! 

8.  What  shall  be  said  of  the  objection  to  the 
credibility  of  the  Gospels  from  alleged  discrep- 
ancies?    The  first  thino-  to  be  said  is 

"  Discrep- 

that  the  objection  is  irrelevant.     Dis-     and'in- 

,    .  •         ^     ^  accuracies. 

crepancies  and  inaccuracies  belong  to 
almost  all  testimony.  On  the  principle  that  a 
"witness  or  an  author  is  to  be  discredited  if  he  fails 
of  accuracy  in  all  particulars,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  believe  any  thing.  Courts  of  law  would 
have  to  be  shut  up.  All  books  of  history,  includ- 
ing narratives  written  from  personal  observation, — 
much  more,  such  as  are  based  on  them, — would  be 
worthless,  Paley,  one  of  the  ablest  defenders  of 
Christianity  in  the  last  century,  justly  says,  "  I 
know  not  a  more  rash  or  unphilosophical  conduct 
of  the  understanding  than  to  reject  the  substance 
of  a  story  by  reason  of  some  diversity  in  the 
circumstances  with  which  it  is  related.  The  usual 
character  of  human  testimony  is  substantial  truth 
under  circumstantial  variety.  This  is  what  the 
daily  experience  of  courts  of  justice  teaches.  When 


68  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

accounts  of  a  traDsaction  come  from  the  mouths  of 
different  witnesses,  it  is  seldom  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  pick  out  apparent  or  real  inconsistencies  between 
them.  These  inconsistencies  are  studiously  dis- 
played by  an  adverse  pleader,  but  oftentimes  with 
little  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the  judges. 
On  the  contrary,  a  close  and  minute  agreement 
induces  the  suspicion  of  confederacy  and  fraud." 
Contemporary  historians,  although  honest  and 
painstaking,  usually  fail  to  accord  w  ith  one  another 
in  some  particulars  of  the  narrative.  They  may 
differ  as  regards  quite  important  circumstances,  and 
yet  their  general  credibility  not  be  shaken.  The 
accounts  of  the  assassination  of  Julius  Caesar  con- 
tain numerous  discrepancies ;  so  it  is  with  the 
ancient  narratives  of  the  murder  of  Cicero.  Yet 
Caesar  and  Cicero  were  killed,  and  the  main  cir- 
cumstances can  be  well  ascertained,  and  even  minor 
particulars  arrived  at,  by  a  comparison  of  authorities. 
Some  maintain  that  Colonel  Prescott  commanded  at 
Bunker  Hill ;  others  that  General  Putnam  was  in 
the  chief  command.  However  the  question  may 
be  determined,  or,  if  it  cannot  be  determined,  there 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  69 

is  no  doubt  that  a  conflict  occurred  there,  and  no 
doubt  as  to  the  essential  facts.  Macaulay's  his- 
tory of  England  is  not  made  worthless  because 
he  confounded  William  Penn,  the  Quaker,  with 
George  Penn,  the  pardon-broker.  Where  varia- 
tions occur  in  testimony,  or  inaccuracies  in  any 
single  witness  or  reporter,  the  only  question  is 
whether  they  are  of  such  a  number  and  character 
as  to  destroy  the  general  trustworthiness  of  the 
narrators,  and  to  cast  doubt  on  the  substantial  con- 
tents of  their  tale.  If  not,  they  may  furnish 
material  for  a  pettifogger  to  deal  with,  but  they 
will  have  no  weight  with  a  discerning  judge  or  an 
intelligent  critic. 

Applying  these  principles  to  the  evangelists,  we 
shall  find  that  their  general  credibility  is  rather 
confirmed  than  weakened  bv  the  blcm- 

M.'tliod 

ishes  alleged  to  exist  in  their  narratives.  °^  strauss. 
It  is  true  that  Strauss  and  critics  of  that  stamp 
have  tried  to  break  down  this  testimony  by  making 
a  parade  of  verbal  differences,  and  by  opposing  a 
clause  taken  from  one  author  against  a  clause 
picked  out  of  another.     It  is  true  of  Strauss,  as  of 


70  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

many  others,  that  he  reasons  often  in  a  circle,  im- 
peaching one  author  on  account  of  the  statement  of 
another  whom  he  likewise  impeaches.  The  method, 
as  thus  jiursuecl,  is  a  sophistical  one,  and  is  parallel 
to  instances  of  artificial  harmonizing  which  well- 
meaning  but  ill-judging  defenders  of  the  Gospels 
have  sometimes  resorted  to  in  order  to  remove  real 
or  apparent  inconsistencies.  Our  historian,  Mr. 
Prescott,  began  to  read  Strauss,  but  soon  laid  aside 
the  book  on  account  of  the  false  and  unfair  method 
which  marks  the  discussion, — a  method  subversive 
of  the  canons  of  sound  historical  criticism. 

AVhatever  opinion  is  entertained  on  the  question 
wdiether  the  narrations  in  the  Gospel  histories  admit 
Substantial      of  being  reconciled  in  all  particulars, — 

truth  of  the  .  i  .   i      /^i     •    ,  •  i      i 

Gospels.  a  question  on  which  Christian  scliolars 

are  still  divided, — it  can  be  clearly  shown  that  in 
numerous  instances  where  it  has  been  pretended 
that  contradictions  exist,  this  opinion  is  erroneous. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  these  books  are  not 
formal  histories.  They  are  memoirs.  There  is  no 
aim  at  completeness.  They  are  not  from  the  pen 
of  expert  writers.     Circumstances,  even  very  im- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  71 

portaut  facts,  may  be  left  out  of  one  and  recorded 
by  another.  In  narratives  of  this  character, 
whether  oral  or  written,  there  is  often  an  appear- 
ance of  inconsistency  where  some  additional  circum- 
stance not  introduced  would  at  once  dispel  this 
appearance.  One  has  only  to  observe  the  narra- 
tives of  daily  occurrences  as  they  are  given  by  one's 
friends  who  are  possessed  of  an  average  degree  of 
accuracy,  to  discern  the  fallacy  and  unfairness  of 
much  of  the  adverse  criticism  of  the  Gospels.  But, 
as  I  have  intimated  above,  if  no  single  transaction 
were  described  by  any  two  evangelists,  either  in 
precise  agreement  vnih  one  another,  or  in  precise 
correspondence  to  the  facts,  no  inference  could  be 
dra^vu  against  the  substantial  truthfulness  of  their 
narratives.  The  fact  would  compel  a  modification 
of  a  conception  of  inspiration  which  many  entertain, 
but  would  leave  tlie  essential  facts  in  the  life  of  Jesus, 
his  miracles  and  resurrection  included,  untouched. 

9.  AVe  leave  the  gospel  history  to  glance  at  Chris- 
tianitv  on   the  doctrinal   side.     Chris-     „  , 

"  Redemption 

tianity  is  the  religion  of  redemption.    It     **"**  ^'"' 
rests  on  the  presupposition  of  tlieism,  and  stands  or 


72  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

falls  with  it.  The  being  of  God  being  acknowl- 
edged, the  one  postulate  of  Christianity  is  the  doc- 
trine of  sin.  In  affirming  that  sin  is  a  dominating 
principle,  or  in  declaring  the  general  sinfulness  of 
mankind,  the  gospel  brings  forward  a  truth  made 
evident  by  the  individual's  personal  consciousness 
and  observation,  implied  in  the  laws,  customs, 
languages,  and  literature  of  the  world,  and  mani- 
fested in  the  entire  history  of  the  race.  Christi- 
anity does  not  create  moral  evil.  On  this  subject 
of  human  wickedness  it  does  nothing  more  than 
reiterate  what  the  foremost  of  heathen  poets  and 
philosophers  have  united  in  asserting.  Seneca  is  as 
severe  in  the  accusation  which  he  brings  against 
mankind  as  Paul,  though  the  Stoic's  moral  abhor- 
rence of  the  ffuilt  which  he  denounces  is  less  intense. 
Those  who  find  fault  with  Christian  teaching 
seldom  avoid  implying  a  prevalence  of  sin  which 
they  will  not  consent  explicitly  to  allow.  A¥e  hear 
them  call  slavery  "a  hideous  crime,"  the  sum  of 
abominations.  But  slavery,  up  to  a  recent  day, 
has  existed  almost  everywhere,  and  in  all  ages.  The 
class  of  oppressors  who  are  directly  responsible  for 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  73 

it  have  been  strong  enough  and  numerous  enough 
to  hold  their  victims  in  subjection.  It  has  com- 
monly been  true  that  the  slave  has  been  ready,  at 
any  time,  to  take,  when  he  could,  the  position  of  a 
master.  Mankind,  then,  have  been  engaged,  from 
the  dawn  of  history,  in  the  perpetration  of  what  is 
termed  a  hideous  crime.  Wars  of  conquest  are 
denounced  as  flagrantly  wicked.  But  war  has  been 
the  great  business  of  the  race,  and  no  homage,  no 
honors,  no  rewards  have  been  so  great  as  those 
bestowed  on  the  conqueror.  AVhat  are  generally 
deemed  the  purest  religions  are  charged  with  having 
incorporated  into  their  sacred  books,  their  creed 
and  rites,  features  indicative  of  the  direst  cruelty. 
What  must  be  the  moral  condition  of  a  race  whose 
theology  and  worship  are  said  to  be  the  offspring 
of  cruel  and  vindictive  passions?  Christianity 
broaches  no  new  doctrine  when  it  teaches  that  moral 
unworthiness  belongs,  though  in  different  degrees, 
to  men  in  common ;  that  evil-doing  is  the  habit  of 
the  race,  though  responsibility  and  guilt  are  per- 
sonal. If  there  be  a  mystery  in  the  universality 
of  sin,  viewed  in  connection  with  personal  agency 


74  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

as  its  necessary  source,  and  the  condition,  sine  qud 
non,  of  its  guilt,  it  is  not  a  mystery  which  the  gos- 
pel originates.  It  inheres  in  the  facts,  which  are 
as  patent  to  the  enlightened  heathen  as  to  the  Chris- 
tian, and  stare  every  man  in  the  face.  Christianity 
brings  out  in  a  clear  light  the  identity  of  sin  as  a 
principle,  although  Stoicism  was  not  blind  to  this 
truth.  Unrighteous  anger  is  not  literally  murder ; 
but  it  is,  in  a  minor  degree,  the  same  eyil  which  in 
murder  appears  full-grown.  It  is  murder  in  the 
germ.  Ambition  is  not  avarice;  but  both  arealike 
selfish.  Take  what  specific  form  it  may,  sin  is  a 
violation  of  righteous  law,  a  disregard  of  rightful 
authority,  a  preference  of  a  narrow  interest  to  the 
universal  good.  All  moral  obligations  are  so  bound 
together  that  he  who  offends  in  one  point  is  guilty 
of  all.  Law  is  one,  and  love  is  one,  and  love  is  the 
law.  Christianity,  as  it  recognizes  the  love  of  God 
as  the  first  and  supreme  duty,  traces  all  special 
forms  of  excessive  self-love  and  evil-doing  to  the 
separation  of  man  from  communion  with  God. 
Here  is  the  fons  et  origo  malorum.  In  the  void 
created  in  the  human  soul  by  the  renunciation  and 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  75 

loss  of  God,  all  idolatries  have  their  origin ;  not 
merely  the  worship  of  deities  devised  by  the  imagi- 
nation, but  the  idolatry  of  the  world, — the  inordinate 
love  of  pleasure,  power,  fame,  wealth.  Ethics  has 
the  springs  of  its  life  in  religion.  Morality,  divorced 
from  religion,  is  a  plant  cut  oflP  from  its  root.  It 
may  retain  its  freshness  and  fragrance  for  a  time ; 
but  in  time  it  withers  and  perishes.  This  idea  of 
the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  man  as  having  its 
living  source  in  man's  fellowship  with  God,  in  whom 
he  lives,  is  one  pervading  idea  of  the  Bible.  It  is  a 
vital  bond  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New. 
It  makes  Abraham,  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  and  all 
the  worshippei's  of  God  in  the  old  time,  even  when 
their  ethical  development  was  as  crude  and  imper- 
fect as  their  agriculture  or  architecture,  of  one  com- 
pany with  John  and  Paul  and  the  holiest  of  Chris- 
tian saints.  Christianity  has  no  hope  for  mankind, 
whether  as  individuals  or  communities,  except  in 
the  return  of  mankind  to  God.  It  looks  on  men 
who  stand  in  no  relation  of  affectionate  loyalty  to 
God  as  wasting  their  substance  in  a  far  country, 
and  summons  them  back  to  the  Father's  house. 


76  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

Christianity  is  for  sinners.  "  They  that  are  whole 
need  no  physician."  He  who  will  think  earnestly 
enough  to  grasp,  in  its  full  reality,  the  fact  of  sin, 
is  prepared  at  least  to  understand  Christianity. 

Communion  with  God  is  mediated  and  restored 
through  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  sent  to  save  that  which 
Person  and  was  lost.  He  camc  uot  to  fulminate  a 
Christ.  deserved  sentence  of  condemnation  ;  he 

came  not  to  condemn,  but  to  save  the  world.  His 
function  is  to  break  down  walls  of  separation,  the 
separation  of  men  from  each  other,  the  alienation 
of  mankind  from  God.  No  work  so  sublime  was 
ever  undertaken  on  the  earth.  It  is  to  form  a 
universal  society,  the  bond  of  which  is  love.  It  is 
to  organize  a  spiritual  community,  embracing  the 
race  of  man,  and  having  its  centre  in  himself, — a 
society  to  be  trained  for  a  future  and  perfect  develop- 
ment of  human  nature  in  an  immortal  state.  He 
who  is  to  effect  the  re-union  of  man  to  God  is  him- 
self the  Son  of  God  as  well  as  the  Son  of  man. 
There  is  a  mysterious  community  of  being  with  the 
Father,  an  inscrutable  derivation  distinct  from  that 
of  all  creaturely  existences,  of  which  tlie  human 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  77 

relation  of  sonsliip  is  to  finite  apprehension  the 
most  expressive  symbol.  There  is  an  incarnation, 
a  great  act  of  self-sacrifice.  That  nature  of  the 
Deity  which  is  called,  in  the  technical  language  of 
theology,  the  Trinity,  is  a  mysterious  truth.  That  is, 
it  is  a  truth  with  regard  to  which  M^e  know  that  it  is, 
also  to  a  certain  extent  toliat  it  is,  but  not  how  it 
is.  We  know  that  a  plant  grows  from  the  seed ; 
we  know  that  it  grows,  but  very  imperfectly  how  it 
grows.  We  know  that  bodies  attract  each  other  in 
the  inverse  ratio  of  the  square  of  their  distances. 
We  know  that  a  result  takes  place,  but  not  in  the 
least  hoio  it  takes  place :  "  attraction  "  is  a  figure  of 
speech.  So  of  the  connection  of  soul  and  body,  and 
of  a  thousand  other  things.  So  true  is  it  that  omne 
exit  in  mysterium.  AVe  may  know  that  two  attri- 
butes co-exist  in  an  entity,  but  hoiv  they  do  or  can 
we  may  be  ignorant.  A  mysterious  truth  may  be 
clear  in  its  practical  relations.  It  is  thus  with  the 
divine  sonship  of  Christ.  Endowed  with  all  human 
sensibilities,  exposed  to  temptation,  he  devotes  him- 
self, in  obedience  to  the  will  of  God,  to  the  task  of 
bearing  witness  for  him,  and  witli  an  absorbing 


78  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

sympathy  to  the  work  of  brlngirg  men  to  repent- 
ance. In  the  prosecution  of  this  work  his  love  to 
God  and  man,  though  always  without  flaw,  is 
developed,  in  the  experiences  of  life  and  of  death, 
to  an  absolute  perfection.  On  the  cross  he  par- 
takes of  death,  the  wages  of  sin,  and  through  the 
absolute  self-devotion  of  sympathy  attains  to  such 
a  living  apprehension  of  man's  guilt  and  ill-desert, 
and  of  the  condemnation  of  sin  felt  in  the  divine 
mind,  that  through  the  cross  the  communion  be- 
tween him,  and  between  mankind  as  represented  in 
him,  and  the  holy  and  loving  God,  reaches  its  con- 
summation. It  is  a  communion  in  which  there  is 
a  full,  intelligent  sanction,  on  man's  side,  of  the 
justice  of  God  in  the  penal  allotment  of  death,  and 
in  his  righteous  displeasure  at  sin.  Thus  in  Christ, 
as  a  centre,  communion  between  God  and  man  was 
restored.  In  the  case  of  all  who  enter  into  the 
work  of  Christ  with  sympathy,  which  is  a  work 
done  not  for  himself  but  for  his  fellow-men,  there 
is  a  guaranty  that  pardon  will  not  be  mistaken  for 
indulgence.  There  is  a  guaranty  that  from  him 
will  go  forth  upon  those  who  give  up  their  isolated 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  79 

individuality,  aud  seek  for  a  new  life  in  fellowship 
with  him,  an  influence  adequate  not  only  to  implant 
and  sustain  a  filial  allegiance  to  God,  but  to  infuse 
into  conscience  a  sense  of  his  holy  anger  at  sin,  as 
vivid  as  if  they  had  themselves  been  visited  with 
the  punishment  due  to  their  sins.  It  is  not  strange 
if  there  should  be  questions  respecting  the  atone- 
ment which  neither  man  nor  angel  can  answer. 
To  say  that  the  atonement  makes  God  placable  is 
false.  "He  so  loved  the  world,"  etc.  It  is  no 
bribe  to  an  unmerciful  judge.  It  is  not  a  commer- 
cial transaction,  a  price  paid  for  a  dispensation  of 
pardon.  It  is  a  substitute  for  punishment,  embracing 
in  it  certain  elements  of  punishment  itself,  and  doing 
for  the  satisfaction  of  God's  own  feeling,  for  the 
moral  order  disturbed  by  the  violation  of  laAV,  and 
thus  for  the  protection  of  authority  and  the  preven- 
tion of  transgressions  in  the  future,  a  work  like  that 
which  the  infliction  of  the  curse  threatened  by  con- 
science aud  the  law  would  fulfil.  As  to  the  vicarious 
feature  of  the  atonement,  its  analogies  are  seen 
wherever  we  look, — in  fiimilies  and  the  succession 
of  generations,  in  the  entailment  of  evils  and  bless- 


80  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

ings,  and  even  in  material  nature  all  around  us  where 
life  springs  out  of  death.  "  Except  a  corn  of  wheat 
fall  into  the  ground,  it  abideth  alone."  The  call  for 
an  unconditioned  absolution,  with  no  correlated 
work  for  the  manifestation  and  vindication  of  just- 
ice, is  not  a  call  that  comes  up  from  the  human  soul 
when  it  is  deeply  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  guilt. 
Criminals,  when  their  consciences  have  been  aroused, 
and  they  have  been  struck  with  the  iniquity  of  their 
deeds,  have  preferred  to  suflPer  the  penalty.  "When 
a  terrible  crime  is  committed,  Avhich  spreads  grief 
and  dismay  through  a  nation,  men  demand,  if  the 
perpetrator  was  sane  and  responsible,  that  the  pen- 
alty should  be  inflicted  in  its  full  severity.  This 
demand  springs  not  merely  or  chiefly  from  a  regard 
for  public  safety :  it  is  the  voice  of  nature  asserting 
an  eternal  fitness  of  things.  Who  dare  say,  then, 
that  if  sin  is  remitted,  if  the  transgressor  is  ap- 
proached with  offers  of  forgiveness,  there  ought  not 
to  be  a  corresponding  revelation  of  the  sanctities  of 
justice?  Who  dare  say  that  the  process  of  recon- 
ciliation ought  not  to  include  something  of  the  nature 
of  expiation  ?     It  is  easy  to  caricature  these  things. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  81 

It  is  easy  to  paint  the  righteous  anger  of  God  against 
evil-doing  as  a  personal  feeling,  a  passion,  instead 
of  the  holy,  impersonal  sentiment  of  conscience.  It 
is  easy  to  represent  the  atonement  as  suffering  im- 
posed on  the  innocent  One,  when  it  was  suffering 
voluntarily  assumed  and  endured  by  him.  There 
is  no  element  in  the  atonement  Avhich  may  not  be 
distorted  by  ignorance  or  by  prejudice.  Against 
all  theoretical  objections,  there  is  the  fact  that  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  have  found  in  it  a  reconcili- 
ation to  God  in  which  nothing  of  his  fatherly 
character  is  obscured,  Avhile  the  perception  of  the 
guilt  and  peril  of  sin  has  been  increasingly  deepened 
instead  of  being  dulled. 

By  the  moral  victory  achieved  on  the  cross,  there 
was  a  liberation  from  death.  When  sin  was  ex- 
pelled from  human  nature  in  the  person     Fruits  of 

r»    1       -r>  •  f  I'll  *'"■  I^ss'^'"" 

ot  the  liepresentative  of  mankind,  who  rection. 
thereby  stored  up  in  himself  a  potency  of  spiritual 
life,  of  holiness  and  goodness,  for  the  race  of  which 
he  was  the  head,  or  the  second  Adam,  the  resur- 
rection was  a  normal  consequence.  Set  free  from 
the  limitations  of  space  and  time,  while  retaining 


82  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIOION. 

all  human  sympathies  and  the  fruits  of  a  human 
experience  perfected  on  the  cross,  he  can  act  from 
the  spiritual  sphere  with  a  more  wide-spread  effi- 
ciency. He  is  the  herald,  the  type,  the  author  of 
a  perfected  humanity.  The  kingdom  of  God,  in 
consequence  of  the  glorified  form  of  being  which 
belongs  to  its  head,  attains  to  its  universal  stage, 
where  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  bond  nor 
free,  male  nor  female,  and  in  which  neither  to 
Jerusalem  nor  Mount  Gerizim  is  it  needful  to 
resort  for  the  worship  of  the  Father.  How  sub- 
Progress         Hme  is  tlic  progrcss  of  that  kingdom ! 

of  tne  •      1       1     ,       1 

kingdom.  ^Ve  cau  trace  it  back  to  the  remote  age 
when  a  single  nomad  chief,  having  a  living  faith  in 
the  true  God,  broke  away  from  his  home  and 
kindred,  and  wandered  over  the  hills  of  Palestine. 
AVe  can  look  on  it  many  centuries  later,  when  it 
was  threatened  with  complete  destruction  by  colos- 
sal empires  on  its  borders,  when  its  narrow  strip  of 
territory  was  trampled  down  by  their  invading 
armies,  when  its  people  were  deported  in  a  mass  to 
foreign  lands  to  serve  heathen  masters,  when  it 
seemed  on  the  verge  of  utter  extinction,  but  when, 


THE  CHRISTLiN  RELIGION.  83 

even  in  the  darkest  hours,  its  prophets  proclaimed 
that  it  would  rise  from  the  dust,  aud  would  over- 
spread the  whole  earth.  We  behold  it  in  the  final 
stage  of  its  development,  when  the  predicted  King, 
with  only  a  handful  of  Galilean  peasants  for  his 
followers,  declared  that  against  it  the  powers  of 
Hades — the  powers  of  death  and  destruction  which 
swallow  up  every  thing  earthly — should  never  pre- 
vail. We  observe  the  kingdom  growing  as  from  a 
grain  of  mustard-seed,  diffusing  its  power  as  leaven 
hidden  in  measures  of  meal,  travelling  from  land 
to  laud,  supplanting  ancient  religions,  surviving,  in 
full  vigor,  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations.  We  open 
the  New  Testament,  and  find  that  "  it  breathes  in 
every  page  boundless  hope  for  the  future,  together 
with  the  charity  which  is  the  source  of  social  effort, 
aud  with  the  faith  which  carries  each  man  beyond 
the  sensual  objects  of  his  own  short  life.  And  it 
closes  with  that  splendid  vision  of  the  consumma- 
tion of  all  Christian  effort  in  the  perfect  reign  of 
God  on  earth,  from  which  folly  attempts  to  cast, 
like  an  astrologer,  the  horoscope  of  nations  ;  but 
which  is  in  truth  the  last  voice  of  Christianity,  as 


84  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

it  passes  from  tlie  hands  of  the  apostles,  and  com- 
mits itself  to  the  dark  and  dangerous  tide  of 
human  affairs,  breaking  forth  in  the  assurance  of 
final  victory."  Where,  save  in  Christianity,  is 
there  a  prospect  of  a  grand  and  inspiring  future 
for  man  on  earth  ?  Where  else  is  an  antidote  to 
the  pessimism  which  creeps  into  the  modern  mind 
when  it  turns  away  from  Christian  revelation? 
What  is  there  to  kindle  enthusiasm  in  Stoic  or 
Agnostic  anticipations  of  an  approaching  resolution 
of  all  things  into  chaos,  to  be  followed  by  new 
cycles  of  development  in  endless  and  aimless  suc- 
cession ?  Say  not  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to 
be  explained  by  a  "  Semitic  genius  for  monothe- 
ism." It  is  an  historical  blunder.  What  was  the 
monotheism  of  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  and 
Phoenician,  of  the  devotee  of  Baal,  of  Astarte,  of 
Moloch  ?  And  Mohammedanism  was  the  old 
Abrahamic  theism,  partly  inherited  and  partly 
caught  up  from  Judaism  and  a  degenerate  Chris- 
tianity. Hebrew  monotheism  was  no  result  of 
mere  natural  instinct :  it  won  for  itself  a  footing 
and  a  permanent  life  only  through  arduous  conflict 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  85 

with  tendencies  to  polytheism  and  idolatiy.  Tlie 
native  Semitic  tendency  may  be  seen  in  the  un- 
speakable abominations  of  the  Chaldean  ritual, 
which  were  escaped  by  Abraham  when  he  left  his 
father,  who  even  then  had  begun  "  to  worship 
other  gods."  The  proposed  offering-up  of  Isaac 
was  not  unlikely  the  turning-point  where  he  cast 
behind  him  the  idea  of  immolating  human  victims 
on  the  altar,  one  of  the  horrible  features  of  \vorship 
in  Babylon  and  Tyre. 

There  ought  to  be  no  need  of  contending  for  the 
reasonableness  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the 
influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the      influence 

of  the 

human  soul.  With  the  idea  of  a  divine  spirit. 
influence  upon  the  minds  of  men  heathen  antiquity 
found  no  difficulty.  The  analogies  of  a  quickening, 
elevating,  renovating  power,  superadded  to  definite 
instruction,  and  going  forth  from  person  to  person, 
are  familiar.  Inquiries  into  the  relation  of  the 
Spirit's  influence  to  the  free  agency  of  the  human 
will  are  only  one  branch  of  a  problem  which 
belongs  as  much  to  philosophy  as  to  theology. 
They  present   no   greater   embarrassment   in   the 


86  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

matter  of  religion  than  in  connection  with  any- 
other  department  of  human  agency.  Arguments 
for  fatalism,  such  as  they  are,  sweep  over  the  entire 
field  of  voluntary  activity.  The  consistency  of 
free  will  and  responsibility  with  the  efficacy  of 
inducements  is  as  capable  of  vindication  when  re- 
pentance and  conversion  are  the  results  produced 
as  when  it  is  the  building  of  a  house  or  the  marry- 
ing of  a  wife. 

The  Christian  conception  of  God  includes  that 
which  is  positive  in  deism  and  pantheism,  excluding 
imma-  that  which  is  negative  and  one-sided. 

Transcen-       Spiuoza,  iu  his  affirmations,  is  not  so  far 

dence  of 

God.  wrong,  nor  is  Emerson,  in  his  essay  on 

"The  Over-soul."  The  difference  between  the 
deistic  and  pantheistic  idea  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  Christian  idea  on  the  other,  is  the  difference  be- 
tween a  hemisphere  and  a  globe.  For  Christianity, 
at  the  same  time  that  it  teaches  the  immanence 
of  God  in  the  world,  and  his  all-pervading  energy, 
likewise  holds  fast  to  his  transcendence.  It  saves 
thus  the  personality  of  God  and  the  free  activity 
of  man,  both  of  which  are  essential  to  religion, 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  87 

religion  being  the  communion  of  person  with  per- 
son. Christianity,  in  distinction  from  the  religious 
and  philosophies  of  heathenism,  affirms  creation, 
and  denies  every  species  of  dualism,  thereby  con- 
sistently maintaining  that  God  is  an  absolute 
being, — a  being  not  depending  on  any  thing 
beyond  himself  for  the  realization  of  his  essential 
attributes. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  human  mind  to  entertain 
a  more  exalted  notion  of  the  character  of  God  than 
Christianity  presents  in  the  fore-front 
of  its  teaching.  God  is  love.  This  is  "^  ^°'^- 
not  the  assertion  of  the  Apostle  John  alone.  Who- 
ever thinks  that  Paul  did  not  cherish  a  similar  idea 
will  disabuse  his  mind  of  this  false  impression  by 
reading  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians.  Such  is  the  teaching  of  Christ. 
"  The  bruised  reed  he  will  not  break,"  etc.  The 
mission  of  Christ  is  founded  on  the  love  and  com- 
passion of  God  toward  evil-doers, — toward  those 
inimical  to  him.  The  Old-Testament  Scriptures, 
in  which  law  and  justice  are  made  prominent  as  a 
pre-requisite  in  the  moral  education  of  man  for  the 


88  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

gospel  of  forgiveness,  dwell,  also,  on  the  love  of 
God.  He  is  "  loug-suflfering,"  "  plenteous  in  mercy," 
feeling  toward  all  who  revere  him  a  father's  pity 
for  his  children,  "  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression, 
and  sin."    Nevertheless,  throughout  the  Scriptures, 
it  is  a  holy  love  which  is  predicated  of  God.     Love 
is  of  necessity  holy.     Love  infolds  in  itself  hatred. 
It  is  impossible  to  love  one  thing  without  hating 
its  moral  opposite.     He  ^^■ho  loves  the  well-being 
of  men  must  proportionally  hate  that  which  is 
fatal  to  man's  well-being.     He  who  is  benevolent 
cannot  avoid  recoiling  with  abhorrence  from  ma- 
levolence and  selfishness.     That  love  of  right  is 
spurious  the  obverse  side  of  which  is  not  the  detes- 
tation of  wrong.     The  Great  Teacher,  therefore,  in 
conformity  with  prophets  and  apostles,  sets  forth 
the  righteous  anger  of  God  against  sin, — a  dis- 
pleasure   which    expresses    itself   in   the    divine 
administration  of  the  world.     This  aspect  of  the 
character  of  God  and  of  his  government  is  not  a 
proper  object  for  concealment  or  apology.     From 
beginning  to  end  of  the  Bible,  he  is  represented  as 
tenderly  meeting  e\'ery  penitent,  as  giving  a  welcome 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIOy.  89 

to  the  repenting  soul  like  that  of  the  fatlier  in  the 
parable  to  the  prodigal  son  who  "  had  wasted  his 
living  among  harlots."  "  Though  your  sins  are 
as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow."  At  the 
same  time,  toward  the  impenitent,  who  persist  in 
trampling  on  sacred  obligations, — obligations  which 
bind  together  the  moral  system,  as  gravitation  holds 
together  the  physical, — he  presents  himself  in  the 
character  of  a  Judge  who  will  "  by  no  means  clear 
the  guilty."  It  is  "  indignation  and  wrath,  tribu- 
lation and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil,"  but  "  glory,  honor,  and  peace  to  every 
man  that  worketh  good."  Whoever  cannot  endure 
this  character,  whoever  wants  an  indiscriminate 
lenity  or  indulgence,  or  no  divine  government  at 
all,  may  as  well  turn  away  from  Christianity  at 
once.  He  will  not  be  able  to  read  a  page  in  the 
New  Testament  or  the  Old  with  any  satisfaction. 
But,  when  Christianity  points  out  the  unsparing 
righteousness  of  God  in  the  infliction  of  penal  evil, 
it  goes  no  farther  than  the  observation  of  the  course 
of  things  among  men  warrants  us  in  believing. 
We  see   enough  to  make   the  Christian   doctrine 


90  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

credible.    There  are  laws  of  character.    Habits  tend 

to  irreversible  permanence.     There  is  a  bondage 

under  evil ;   and  self-emancipation,  or 

Laws  of  '  r  ; 

character.  dcliverancc  by  any  exterior  influences, 
grows  more  and  more  difficult.  Choice  turns  into 
a  chain.  Conscience  cannot  easily  shake  oif  the 
presentiment  of  retribution  to  be  met  with  in  "  the 
undiscovered  country."  On  this  subject,  Chris- 
tianity teaches,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  necessary 
for  any  true  or  blessed  life  that  man  should  be 
reconciled  and  re-united  to  God.  This  is  a  "-mda- 
mental  assertion ;  Christianity  stands  or  falls  with 
it.  In  the  second  place,  Christianity  teaches  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  means  to  this  end,  or  the 
only  Saviour.  It  is  through  him,  or  on  the  founda- 
tion of  what  he  does  and  suffers,  that  those  who 
have  no  personal  knowledge  of  him,  in  case  they 
are  ever  brought  into  relations  of  conscious  peace 
and  fellowship  with  God,  are  delivered.  The 
whole  family  of  the  redeemed  are  to  stand  in  con- 
nection with  him.  Thirdly,  Christianity  teaches, 
as  a  corollary  to  the  foregoing  proposition,  that  the 
final  rejection  of  the  Saviour  by  those  to  whom  he 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  91 

is  made  known,  leaves  the  soul  without  the  hope 
of  salvation.  It  is  a  self-evident  truth,  that,  when 
there  is  only  one  means  of  salvation,  perdition  is 
the  consequence  of  a  persevering  refusal  to  avail 
one's  self  of  it.  Such  refusal  is  a  voluntary  act  of 
self-destruction.  Most  Christians  understand  the 
New  Testament  to  predict  that  there  are  those  who 
will  thus  repel  the  approaches  of  mercy  and  help, 
and  thus  bring  on  themselves  an  endless  doom, — 
endless  from  the  fixity  of  habit,  and  their  own 
irrevocable  action,  yet  not  the  less  penalty,  since 
the  law  of  habit  is  itself  an  apparatus  not  only  of 
reward,  but  of  retribution.  There  have  been  some 
eminent  teachers  of  Christianity  in  ancient  and  in 
modern  times  who  have  dissented  from  the  pre- 
vailing interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  Some 
have  thought  that  eventually  the  attractive  power 
of  God's  love  in  the  gospel  will  overcome  all  the 
opposition  of  tlie  human  will,  pour  light  and 
warmth  into  the  darkest  mind,  and  bring  to  pass  a 
universal  restoration.  Others,  especially  in  later 
days,  have  believed  tJiat  intimations  in  the  New 
Testament,  coupled  with  observed  tendencies  of  sin, 


92  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

justify  the  expectation  that  incorrigible  souls  will 
wear  themselves  out,  consume  their  own  powers  of 
rational  thought,  and  perish  out  of  being.  But  all 
considerate  Christians,  be  their  opinions  or  doubts 
what  they  may,  are  bound  to  protest  with  all  energy 
against  any  theory  of  fatalism  which  would  attri- 
bute to  sin  a  self-destroying  character.  The  pan- 
theism which  makes  moral  evil  a  phase  of  good,  a 
transient  phenomenon  that  eliminates  itself,  is  in 
deadly  hostility  to  the  essential  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  "  Woe  unto  them  that  call  evil  good, 
and  good  evil."  Sin  is  self-propagating,  not  self- 
consuming.  He  who  ventures  to  indulge  the  hope 
of  a  final  recovery  of  all  souls  to  holiness  and  to 
God  has  no  moral  right  to  the  Christian  name,  if 
he  founds  his  hope  on  any  natural  necessity,  or  on 
aught  save  the  moral  operation  of  motives  which 
exert  over  the  will  no  coercive  agency.  Perhaps 
the  day  will  come  when  controversy  on  this  subject 
will  be  less  heated,  and  when  a  more  chastened 
curiosity  will  exist  respecting  the  statistics  of  the 
future  world  in  its  far  remote  seons. 

As  concerns  the  problem  of  the  theodicy,  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  93 

difficulty  presented  to  Christian  theology  is  precisely 
the  same  as  under  every  other  religion  or  phil- 
osophy in  which  the  reality  of  moral  evil  ^^^  ^^^^^ 
is  not  denied,  and  in  which  the  Power  i«°^°fEvii. 
that  rules  the  world  is  neither  conceived  of  as  finite, 
or  as  deficient  in  benevolence.  Physical  and  moral 
evil  are  here.  "We  see  and  experience  them  both. 
They  are  permitted  to  be  by  the  Author  of  the 
universe.  The  reasons  why  they  are  permitted,  we 
are  for  the  most  part  left  to  conjecture.  Since  the 
masterly  discussion  of  Leibnitz,  the  objection  to  the 
perfection  of  God  from  the  existence  of*  physical 
evil  or  suffering  has  been  more  seldom  heard.  On 
the  supposition  that  moral  evil  is  to  exist,  the 
existence  of  physical  evil,  where  and  when  it  ia 
found,  may  be,  for  aught  that  anybody  can  prove 
to  the  contrary,  beneficent.  Moral  evil  or  sin  is 
purely  the  act  of  the  creature.  It  is  an  abuse  of 
freedom.  It  is  overruled  in  the  divine  govern- 
ment, and  turned  into  an  occasion  of  multiform 
benefits  which  do  not  issue  from  its  inherent  tend- 
encies, and  were  not  designed  by  the  evil-doer. 
The  question  why  it  is  allowed  to  be  introduced  by 


94  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

the  all-foreseeing  Deity  is  among  the  mysteries  of 
life.  But  the  objection  of  Epicurus  and  Hume  can- 
not logically  be  urged  against  the  divine  omnipo- 
tence. It  can  never  be  proved  that  the  exclusion 
of  sin  in  any  of  the  cases  where  it  is  suffered  to 
occur,  by  dint  of  divine  power  interfering  to  pre- 
vent it,  does  not  involve  an  incompatibility  in  the 
nature  of  things.  It  can  never  be  proved  that  in 
a  universe  composed  of  rational  agents  further 
divine  interposition  for  the  exclusion  of  sin  might 
not  necessarily  involve  a  degradation  of  the  system, 
a  diminution  of  the  good  to  result  from  it,  greater 
than  any  advantages  consequent  on  such  inter- 
ference. In  other  words,  the  permission,  not  the 
causation,  of  sin  on  the  part  of  God  may  be  the 
dictate  of  supreme  wisdom.  It  is  not  a  Christian 
philosophy  which  teaches  that  two  and  two  may 
be  five  on  some  other  planet,  or  that  omnipotence 
can  make  a  thing  to  be  and  not  to  be  simultaneously, 
or  achieve  any  other  impossibilities.  As  long  as 
this  solution  of  the  mystery  of  evil  is  a  possible 
one,  the  impeachment  of  the  divine  power  or  good- 
ness has  no  logical  foundation  to  rest  upon.     It  is 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  95 

a  subject  on  which  all  but  the  most  presumptuous 
will  be  willing  to  wait  for  light.  Meantime,  Chris- 
tianity stands  immeasurably  above  the  ripest  heathen 
philosophy  in  ascribing  sin  to  the  self-determina- 
tion of  the  creaturely  will,  instead  of  making  it  the 
necessary  product  of  matter,  or  of  any  germ  inhe- 
rent in  the  constitution  of  things. 

Protestant  Christians  hold  the  Bible  to  be  the 
sufficient  and  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  conduct. 
The  Scriptures  are  the  umpire  in  contro- 

^  '-  Character 

versies.  But  it  is  to  the  Scriptures  o^'^''«i^iw« 
collectively  taken  that  these  attributes  pertain.  We 
cannot  open  the  Book  of  Leviticus,  or  any  other 
book  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  apply  forthwith  a 
precept  which  falls  under  the  eye  to  ourselves.  We 
cannot  select  a  verse  in  a  Psalm,  and  adopt  it, 
without  consideration,  as  a  sentiment  suitable  for 
a  Christian  to  cherish.  The  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures are  not  Christian  Scriptures.  They  belong  to 
the  earlier  stages  of  revelation.  The  criterion  to 
which  every  utterance,  evcu  of  the  most  evangelical 
prophets,  is  to  be  brought  is  the  teaching  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles.     This  truth   derogates  nothing 


96  THE  CHBISTIAy  RELIGION. 

from  the  proper  dignity  of  the  Old-Testament 
Scriptures,  nor  does  it  clash  with  any  reasonable 
idea  of  inspiration.  It  is  simply  an  inference  from 
the  progressive  character  of  revelation,  on  which  I 
have  before  commented.  An  illastration  resembling 
one  which  Whately  has  somewhere  presented  may 
be  of  service.  A  father  corresponds  with  an  absent 
son  from  his  childhood.  The  earliest  of  these  letters 
wuU  naturally  contain  injunctions  and  counsels 
adapted  to  the  situation,  needs,  and  temptations 
peculiar  to  a  boy.  He  is  exhorted,  perhaps,  to  set 
apart  a  definite  hour  for  play,  and  a  particular  time 
for  writing  his  letters.  He  is  enjoined  to  retire  to 
bed  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Particular 
regulations  are  laid  down  relative  to  his  clothing 
and  his  expenses.  The  letters  for  a  number  of 
years  are  composed  largely  of  rules  of  behavior, 
affectionately,  yet  imperatively,  urged,  and  inter- 
spersed with  that  sort  of  instruction  in  morals  and 
religion  which  would  be  most  easily  apprehended 
by  an  immature  mind.  At  length  the  son  arrives 
at  the  stage  of  manhood,  and  shows  the  moulding 
agency  of  this  long-continued  guidance.     Then  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  97 

father  addresses  him  as  a  full-grown  man,  and 
communicates  to  him  in  one  final  composition  the 
principles  pertaining  to  life,  duty,  and  man's  des- 
tiny, which  he  deems  of  the  highest  moment.  The 
son  collects  all  these  letters  in  a  volume.  They 
all  discover  in  different  degrees  his  father's  charac- 
ter, and  throw  light  on  the  path  of  his  duty.  But 
he  would  be  a  simpleton  if  he  referred  to  the  earliest 
and  latest  without  discrimination,  and  confounded 
the  injunctions  given  to  a  school-boy  with  the  truths 
and  appeals  of  that  final  letter.  Eather  would  he 
test  every  thing  previous  by  the  contents  of  this 
last  communication.  The  illustration  will  mislead 
if  it  is  understood  to  imply  that  the  books  of  the 
Bible  are  to  be  literally  described  as  letters  from 
God  to  man.  The  point  is  simply  that  the  progres- 
sive nature  of  revelation  renders  it  necessary,  as  it 
is  natural,  to  use  the  New  Testament  as  the  touch- 
stone of  the  relative  completeness  and  the  continued 
validity  of  all  prior  biblical  teaching.  It  requires 
to  be  further  said,  that,  from  this  gradually  develop- 
ing nature  of  revelation,  devotional  expressions, 
current  proverbs,  and  the  varied  expressions  of  a 


98  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

religious  and  ethical  character,  whether  verbal  or  in 
the  conduct  of  good  men,  will  bear  upon  them 
traces  of  the  limit  of  the  knowledge  possessed  at 
different  epochs.  There  is  an  Old-Testament  type 
of  piety  which  is  felt  in  all  tliis  literature.  "The 
law  was  given  by  ISIoses,  but  grace  and  truth  came 
by  Jesus  Christ." 

The  critical  study  of  the  Bible,  coupled  with  the 
general  advance  of  physical  and  historical  investiga- 
tion, have  brought  out  in  recent  times,  in  more 
distinct  relief,  what  is  called  the  "human  side,"  or 
Criticism  factor,  iu  the  biblical  Writings.  Scholarly 
Scriptures.  criticism  tends  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
was  a  growth  in  Hebrew  institutions  and  laws ; 
that  the  codes  were  kept  open,  the  original  rubrics 
being  retained ;  that  legislation  was  added,  from 
time  to  time,  under  the  guidance  of  prophets,  to 
suit  changing  circumstances,  new  ordinances  being 
looked  on  as  INIosaic  for  the  reason  that  they  were 
conceived  in  the  spirit  and  were  considered  a  legiti- 
mate development  of  the  primitive  enactments. 
These  questions  are  to  be  determined  before  the 
tribunal  of  searching  and  impartial  scholarship. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  99 

But  they  involve  no  such  peril  to  the  Christian 
faith  as  they  are  often  thought  to  contain.  The 
religion  of  tlie  chosen  people  is  all  within  the  covers 
of  the  Old  Testament.  The  debate  is  about  the 
order  of  stratification.  The  organic  relation  of  the 
Old  Testament  religion  to  Christianity  is  a  historical 
fact  which  stands  on  indisputable  proof,  and  is 
altogether  independent  of  these  critical  inquiries, 
however  important  in  their  place  they  may  be. 
Of  the  Scriptures  as  a  whole,  it  is  true  that  the 
more  they  are  studied  in  the  light  of  modem  science 
and  learning,  the  more  striking  is  felt  to  be  the 
apostle's  declaration,  "We  have  this  treasure  in 
earthen  vessels,  that  the  power  may  be  of  God  and 
not  of  men."  The  power  remains.  The  treasure 
is  more  evident  from  the  homely  casket  which  sur- 
rounds it.  Traditional  formulas  relative  to  inspira- 
tion may  undergo  modification:  they  are  not  an 
integral  element  of  the  Christian  religion,  but 
belong  to  the  attempts  of  scientific  thought  to  define 
it.  The  great  Protestant  principle  of  the  normal 
authority  of  the  Bible  as  a  teacher  of  religion  and 
morals  remains  intact.     What  Christianity  is  can 


100  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

be  correctly  ascertained  from  the  Scriptures,  and 
nowhere  else.  The  marks  of  inspiration  are  stamped 
even  on  parts  of  Scripture  which  precede  contem- 
porary authorship  and  testimony, — the  one  main 
criterion  of  historical  proof.  The  attempted  "  recon- 
ciliations" of  Genesis  and  science  may  not  be  happy, 
either  as  expositions  of  science  or  interpretations  of 
literature ;  but  the  sublime  cosmogony  which  stands 
at  the  threshold  of  the  Bible,  the  moment  it  is 
contrasted  with  the  ancient  Semitic  traditions  or 
legends,  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  or  Phoenician,  with 
which  it  has  features  in  common,  is  perceived  to  be 
immeasurably  elevated  above  them.  How  came 
polytheism  and  dualism  to  be  excluded  here,  and  not 
elsewhere  ?  How  did  the  pure  theism,  with  its  doc- 
trine of  a  Creator  of  man  in  his  own  image,  of  sin 
as  man's  free  act,  of  guilt  bringing  shame,  of  im- 
morality and  crime  as  flowing  from  practical  athe- 
ism,— ^how  did  this  mass  of  religious  and  moral 
truth,  truth  recognized  throughout  the  Bible,  and  at 
the  foundation  of  the  Christian  system,  get  into  this 
Hebrew  record  ?  Who  can  fail  to  see  that  a  Spirit 
was  at  work  in  the  Hebrew  mind  not  manifested 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  101 

elsewhere  ?  As  tlie  magnet  attracts  only  true  metal, 
so  did  that  mind,  when  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
take  up  only  those  elements  of  belief  which  were 
consonant  with  the  true  religion.  Books  in  the  Old 
Testament  which  are  a  puzzle  to  some  Christians, 
and  are  often  a  theme  of  derision,  assume  an  utterly 
different  character  when  they  are  considered  from 
what  I  may  call  the  historico-theological  point  of 
view.  The  Song  of  Solomon  contains — except  in 
one  passage  (chap.  vii.  1-9),  which  is  an  interpola- 
tion— nothing  to  which  a  pure  mind  can  take  excep- 
tion. Instead  of  being  marked  by  a  sensual  quality, 
as  has  often  been  asserted,  it  celebrates  the  virtue 
and  victory  of  chaste  love  and  constancy  against  all 
enticements.  There  is  not  a  syllable  in  the  Bible, 
from  Genesis  to  the  Apocalypse,  which  is  adapted 
to  foster  impure  passion.  Those  who  are  fond  of 
contrasting  the  Old  Testament  with  the  New,  as 
if  there  were  a  contrariety  between  them,  must  find 
it  hard  to  explain  how  the  Old  Testament  could 
have  been  so  cherished  by  Christ  and  the  apostles. 
Why  were  they  not  shocked  by  what  we  are  told  is 
hostile  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  ?     It  is  plain 


102  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

that  the  drift  of  the  Old  Testament  is  all  in  the 
right  direction.  The  Book  of  Jonah — whether  it 
be  held  that  it  was  meant  to  be  history,  or  was 
meant  as  a  parable,  like  the  tale  of  the  Pharisee 
and  the  Publican,  as  many  Christian  scholars  hold 
— contains  a  beautiful  lesson  of  Jehovah's  pity  for 
the  heathen,  and  affords  a  foreglimpse  of  the 
broader  discovery  of  God's  love  which  is  made  in 
the  gospel.  It  is  a  rebuke  of  Jewish  narrowness 
and  harshness :  it  really  marks  an  advance  in 
revelation.  The  proverbs  are  an  anthology  of  wise 
sayings  by  Solomon  and  other  sages,  as  the  Psalms 
are  an  anthology  of  hj-mus  by  David  and  other 
poets.  They  are  differentiated,  as  I  have  said 
before,  from  heathen  literature:  another  spirit 
dwells  in  them.  Only  they  must  be  tested  by 
Christianity,  which  is  the  complement  of  all  prior 
revelations. 

The  gospel  was  brought  into  the  world  in  a  way 
to  pour  contempt  on  human  pride.  There  is  no 
The  Gospel      pomp  of  any  sort  attending  its  advent. 

in  the  form 

of  a  Servant  Humblc,  Unlearned  men  are  chosen  for 
its  first  teachers.     The  Lord  himself  was  in  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  103 

form  of  a  servant.  The  New-Testament  Scriptures 
are  in  keeping  with  the  lowly  circumstances  that 
invested  Christianity  at  its  origin.  They,  too,  from 
the  ordinary  point  of  view  of  the  world,  "  are  with- 
out form  or  comeliness."  They  are  not  elaborate 
compositions.  No  pains  are  taken  to  disarm  preju- 
dice, anticipate  cavils  and  objections,  frame  a  case 
all  parts  of  which  are  nicely  fitted  together  to  defy 
attack.  Attacks  are  expected.  They  are  predicted. 
The  Divine  Author  of  Christianity  has  rather 
chosen  to  leave  much  in  the  Christian  documents 
that  may  easily  provoke  disesteem  and  even  scepti- 
cism. A  test  is  presented  of  the  candor,  the  earn- 
estness, and,  above  all,  of  the  real  desire  to  find 
God,  and  to  obtain  forgiveness  and  peace  from 
him. 

There  is  room  for  brief  observations  on  the  ethics 
of  Christianity.  It  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that 
Christianity  is  in  its  essence  a  religion.     Tho  Ethies 

,  of  tlie  Gos- 

Its  end  is  a  transformation  of  character,      p^i. 
It  aims  to  make  man  "a  new  creature"  by  connect- 
ing him  with  Christ,  the  herald,  the  t}i)e,  and  the 
creative  potence  of  a  perfected  humanity.    It  incul- 


104  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

cates  principles  rather  than  specific  statutes  for  the 
regulation  of  conduct.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
the  golden  rule  is  not  peculiar  to  the  gospel.  As 
found  in  Isocrates,  Confucius,  the  Eabbis,  and  in 
other  authors  where  it  is  alleged  to  occur,  it  appears 
either  in  a  negative  form,  "  Do  not  unto  others," 
etc. ;  or  in  some  restricted  application,  as  to  the 
relation  of  husbands,  fathers,  or  children.  In  the 
gospel  it  stands  in  a  form  at  once  affirmative  and 
universal.  But,  even  if  an  equivalent  injunction 
were  to  be  met  with  elsewhere,  it  would  be  more 
pertinent  to  show  where,  save  in  Christianity,  there 
has  been  provided  an  efficient  motive  and  inspira- 
tion to  its  fulfilment.  Moreover,  this  precept  is  far 
from  being  an  adequate  guide  of  life,  when  severed 
from  the  Christian  truth  connected  with  it.  The 
rule  to  treat  others  as  we  should  wish  to  be  treated 
ourselves,  or  even  as  we  should  think  it  right  for 
others  to  treat  us,  requires  as  its  complement  a  true 
idea  of  man  as  he  ought  to  be.  We  must  know  in 
what  man's  well-being  consists.  What  ought  we 
to  desire  at  the  hands  of  others  ?  The  golden  rule 
is  simply  to  brace  men  up  on  the  weak  side.    It  is 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  105 

to  counteract  the  bias  of  self-love,  the  most  prolific 
source  of  injustice  and  unkiuduess.  This  is  the 
limit  of  its  function.  It  is  one  of  those  parts  of 
New  Testament  teaching  which  the  natural  con- 
science sanctions,  if  it  fails  to  suggest. 

The  New  Testament  insists  on  general  affections. 
It  lays  stress  on  philanthropy,  because  at  that  age 
there  was   no   need  to  exhort  men  to 

Patriotism. 

patriotism.  The  tendency  was  to  make 
love  of  country  the  acme  of  virtuous  attainment. 
But  Christianity  never  disparages  particular  affec- 
tions, such  as  bind  men  together  in  families  and 
communities.  It  simply  guards  against  their  ex- 
aggeration, and  insists  on  a  benevolence  as  broad 
as  humanity. 

It  is  a  narrow  and  frigid  method  of  interpretation 
which  finds  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount  a  universal 
prohibition  of  the  use  of  force.     The 

■••  The  uso  of 

precept  of  non-resistance  is  like  that —     ^°'''^^" 
which  is  a  branch  of  it — enjoining  that  if  a  man  is 
sued  for  his  coat  he  is  to  give,  unasked,  his  cloak 
also.     In  all  such  precepts  the  thing  forbidden  is 
malice  and  revenge.     The  thing  commanded,  as  the 


106  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

main  reliance  for  the  overcomiug  of  evil,  is  the 
practice  of  forbearance  and  kindness.  But  the 
state,  as  an  organization  of  force,  existing  by  divine 
authority  for  the  maintenance  of  justice,  is  sanctioned 
by  Christ  and  the  apostles.  Nor  does  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  forbid  the  use  of  force  for  ends  con- 
sonant with  those  for  which  the  civil  authority  is 
established.  The  limit  to  the  duty  of  civil  obedi- 
ence is  where  human  law  is  in  direct  conflict  with 
the  divine.  Then  a  Christian  is  to  obey  God  rather 
than  man.  To  conclude  that  there  is  an  obligation 
of  passive  obedience  in  all  conceivable  cases,  and  no 
right  of  revolution,  is  an  unwarrantable  inference 
from  injunctions  given  at  a  time  w^hen  armed 
resistance  to  tyranny  would  have  been  a  suicidal 
folly,  and  directed  to  those  charged  wath  a  special 
mission  to  found,  by  persuasion  and  by  patient  suf- 
fering, the  new  kingdom  of  God  among  men. 

1 0.  The  relation  of  Christianity  to  ethnic  religions 
and  to  philosophy  among  the  heathen  is  not  that  of 
The  heathen  unqualified  repugnance.  The  "wild- 
rehgions.  growing  rcligious,"  as  Schelling  calls 
them,  may  have  in  them  important  elements  of 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  107 

truth.  These  are  found  iu  their  right  place  in  the 
Christian  system.  In  one  religion,  the  teaching 
of  Buddlia,  there  is  an  impressive  inculcation  of 
sympathy  and  philanthropy.  It  is  linked  with  a 
gloomy  metaphysic  which  places  the  highest  hope 
of  the  soul  in  the  annihilation  of  personal  being. 
That  system,  in  its  proper  consequences,  is  fatal  to 
responsibility  as  well  as  to  hope.  All  that  is  good 
in  Buddhism  is  found  iu  the  gospel,  without  its 
dismal  accompaniment  of  atheism  and  the  drown- 
ing of  personality  in  a  fathomless  ocean  of  being. 
How  infinitely  richer  is  the  good  offered  to  the 
wretched  victims  of  caste  in  the  invitation  of  Jesus, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy- 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest," — words  which 
Augustine  says  he  had  never  found  in  Plato,  high  as 
he  rated  the  charms  of  that  prince  of  philosophers. 
Whatever  in  Greek  philosophy  or  the  uninspired 
sages  of  other  peoples  is  true  to  human  nature, 
Christianity  welcomes  as  congenial  with  itself,  and 
knows  how  to  assimilate.  Orthodox  fathers  of  the 
ancient  Church  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  rays  of 
lio-lit   from   above   had  fallen  into  the  minds  of 


J 


108  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

Socrates  and  other  masters  of  wisdom,  who  rose 
into  a  higher  atmosphere  than  was  breathed  by  the 
generations  among  whom  their  lot  was  cast, — men 
of  whom  it  might  be  said  that  heathen  society 
"  was  not  worthy."  Stoicism  yearned  for  a  universal 
polity.  As  the  ancient  states,  one  after  another, 
fell  to  pieces,  there  Vv^ere  those  who  aspired  after  a 
broader  and  permanent  bond  of  union.  Cicero,  in 
a  strain  caught  from  those  teachers,  discourses  of  a 
universal  "commonwealth"  of  gods  and  men. 
Thase  were  aspirations  which  could  never  be  real- 
ized on  the  soil  of  heathen  antiquity.  They  were 
dreams  awaiting  a  fulfilment.  They  were  uncon- 
scious prophecies  of  the  brotherhood  of  mankind, 
secured  in  the  fellowship  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the 
Church  opening  its  doors  to  every  nation  and  every 
rank. 

It  is,  likewise^  a  part  of  the  genius  of  Christianity 

L-j  to  foster,  within  its  due  limit,  every  genuine  expres- 

;  ^u  •  .-    .x_     sion  of  human  nature,  to  encourage  the 

( Christianity  '  ° 

\  ^^^  Society,  development  of  the  human  mind,  and  the 
^omotiou  of  human  welfare  in  all  directions- 
Christianity  seeks  to  mould  society  according  to 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  109 

justice  and  love.  It  seeks  to  infuse  into  govern- 
ment and  legislation  the  spirit  of  equity.  It  favors 
education  and  culture,  because  it  values  the  human 
soul  infinitely  above  every  exterior  good.  It  is 
friendly  to  art,  for  the  love  of  beauty  is  allied  to 
the  love  of  goodness.  Whatever  inventions  and 
discoveries  lighten  the  burden  of  labor,  minister  to 
the  healing  of  the  sick,  and  heighten  the  comforts 
of  daily  existence,  are  welcomed  by  the  followers  of 
him  who  went  about  doing  good.  Christianity  is 
not  an  ascetic  system.  The  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth  is  not  a  ghostly  community,  busied  exclusively 
with  religious  exercises.  It  is  humanity  developed, 
trained,  perfected  on  every  side.  Christian  virtue 
is  no  "fugitive  and  cloistered  virtue."  "  ^\Tiatsoever 
things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  what- 
soever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are 
of  good  report,"  Christians  are  exhorted  to  pay 
regard  to.  The  comprehensive  command  of  Christ 
is,  "  Be  ye  perfect."  Perfection  is  reached  in  the 
disciple  as  in  Christ,  not  by  "minding  his  own 
things,"  but  "the  things  of  others."     To  live  and 


110  THE  CBBISTIAN  RELIGION. 

labor  for  the  world  without  worldliness — that  is, 
subordinating  all  material  good  to  that  which  is 
spiritual  and  walking  by  faith  in  things  not  seen — 
is  a  Christian's  work. 

Let  a  thoughtful  man  contemplate  the  prospects 
of  mankind  on  the  supposition  that  the  Christian 

faith  is  to  pass  away.  Civilization  ad- 
of'tho^'^^        vances.     Human  science  goes  forward 

as  far  as  it  can  in  alleviating  bodily 
pain.  Provisions  for  living  comfortably  are  mul- 
tiplied in  a  degree  at  present  incalculable,  and  are 
dilFused  abroad.  Knowledge  increases  more  and 
more.  Wars  come  to  an  end.  Governments  become 
equitable  and  beneficent.  Manners  take  on  a  finer 
quality.  Conceive  that  such  a  progress  of  mankind 
is  possible,  apart  from  the  purifying  and  restrain- 
ing influence  of  religion, — an  expectation  for  which 
neither  human  nature  nor  experience  aiFords  the 
slightest  warrant, — what  then?  Are  men  who  are 
thus  advanced  in  the  intellectual  scale  and  in  the 
affections  of  the  heart  to  be  satisfied  with  a  merely 
mundane  existence  ?     Can  they  content  themselves 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  Ill 

to  live  iu  this  way  witli  no  wider  horizon,  aud  then 
to  pass  out  of  being  ?  AVill  they  find  a  sullicient 
stimukis  to  labor  for  their  raee  iu  the  mere  hope 
of  rendering;  the  earth  a  more  comfortable  abode 
for  tenants  who  iu  swift  succession  rise  into  being 
and  sink  into  the  grave,  as  flowers  blossom  and  the 
next  day  fall  from  their  stems  ?  The  further  civil- 
ization advances,  were  a  sure  advance  practicable 
without  the  inspiration  and  the  safeguards  of  reli- 
gion, the  more  intolerable  human  life  would  become. 
Man  would  be  less  happy  than  the  animals.  The 
brutes  have  no  thoughts  or  imaginations  above  the 
necessities  of  the  hour ;  but  mau,  with  a  nature 
too  large  to  be  satisfied  with  earthly  good,  is  cut 
off  from  any  thing  higher.  The  dignity  of  life, 
and  its  joy  not  less,  are  gone  when  there  are  no 
ties  connecting  this  brief  existence  with  a  world 
unseen. 

I  have  spoken  of  Christianity,  making  no  effort 
to  confute  atheism.  It  is  no  part  of  my  plan  to 
set  forth  the  evidences  of  the  beinn;  of     „,    ,  . 

*=  The  being 

God.    He  reveals  himself  in  the  consti-     ''^"  ^°'^- 
tutiou  of  the  human  soul,  a  free  intelligence,  which 


112  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 

cannot  explain  itself  to  itself  by  any  material 
causes  among  Avhicli  freedom  has  no  place  and 
intelligence  does  not  exist.  He  reveals  himself  in 
conscience,  through  which  an  imperative  law  is 
imposed  on  us,  which  is  superior  to  the  human  will 
and  independent  of  it.  He  reveals  himself  in  the 
order  and  design  wliich  render  science  possible,  and 
which  bring  home  to  the  unperverted  mind  the 
conviction  that  the  world  is  framed  and  sustained 
by  an  intelligent  Creator.  He  reveals  himself  in 
the  course  of  history,  in  the  working  out  of  ends 
by  the  concurrence  of  numberless  instruments, 
neither  of  whom  comprehends  the  plan  which  he 
takes  part  in  executing,  and  in  the  traces  of  a 
risrhteous  government  which,  amid  all  the  confusion 
of  human  affairs,  are  clearly  discerned,  and  which 
excite  a  rational  presentiment  of  a  more  complete 
manifestation  of  justice  hereafter.  Xothing  can  be 
more  irrational  than  criticism  of  the  justice  and 
goodness  of  the  First  Cause  of  all  things ;  for  that 
there  is  a  First  Cause  few  reasoners  are  so  unphilo- 
sophical  as  to  call  in  question.  The  Author  of  the 
universe  is  the  author  of  the  human  faculties  by 


THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  113 

which  we  judge  of  truth  and  falsehood,  of  good 
and  evil.  If  he  is  not  righteous,  what  reason  have 
we  to  trust  the  faculties  which  he  has  given  us? 
"What  ground  have  we  to  rely  on  any  conclusion  ? 
and,  if  not  on  any  conclusion,  how  can  we  put 
confidence  in  impressions  that  we  may  have  in 
regard  to  the  Creator's  attributes  ?  Faith  in  G(k1 
is  the  presupposition  of  faith  in  our  own  intel- 
lectual processes. 

In  the  foregoing  discussion  I  have  endeavored  to 
state  the  opinions  of  Christians  correctly,  wherever 

I  have  professed  to  refer  to  general  or     Christian- 
ity and 
prevailing  beliefs.      In   other  cases   I     sects. 

have  expressed  frankly  my  personal  convictions. 
Christianity  is  the  peculiar  property  of  no  indi- 
vidual and  of  no  single  sect.  Whoever  defends  it 
or  assails  it  has  no  right  to  confound  peculiarities 
of  doctrine  found  here  or  there  among  Christians, 
or  even  widely  prevalent,  with  the  catholic  faith, 
or  that  great  substance  of  belief  which  Christians 
generally  unite  in  cherishing.  I  have  passed  in 
rapid  review  a  series  of  topics,  to  either  of  which 

a  volume  might  well  be  devoted.     If  the  effect  is 
8 


114  THE  CHRISTIAN  BELIGION. 

to  give  to  any  disbeliever  or  doubter  a  more 
enlightened  conception  of  the  religion  of  Christ, 
and  to  diminish  prejudices  which  often  spring  from 
incorrect  teaching,  I  shall  feel  that  I  have  not 
written  in  vain.  Should  any  one  be  moved  to 
controvert  statements  in  the  preceding  pages,  I 
shall  not,  partly  for  the  reasons  stated  at  the  outset, 
feel  obliged  to  make  reply.  I  have  no  fear  that 
candid  readers  will  infer  from  my  silence  that  the 
propositions  which  have  been  stated  above  admit 
of  no  further  defence. 


THE   END. 


EPOCHS    OF    HISTORY. 


"A  Series  of  concise  and  carefully  prepared  volumes  on  special 
eras  of  history.  Each  is  devoted  to  a  group  of  events  of  such 
importance  as  to  entitle  it  to  be  regarded  as  an  epoch.  Each 
is  also  complete  in  itself,  and  has  no  especial  connection  with 
the  other  members  of  the  series.  The  works  are  all  written 
by  authors  selected  by  the  editor  on  account  of  some  especial 
qualifications  for  a  portrayal  of  the  period  they  respectively 
describe.  The  volumes  form  an  excellent  collection,  especially 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  a  general  reader." — CHARLES  KENDALL 
ADAMS,  President  of  Cornell  University. 

"The  '  Epochs  of  History  '  seem  to  me  to  have  been  prepared  with 
knowledge  and  artistic  skill  to  meet  the  wants  of  a  large  number 
of  readers.  To  the  young  they  furnish  an  outline  or  compen- 
dium which  may  serve  as  an  introduction  to  more  .extended 
study.  To  those  who  are  older  they  present  a  convenient  sketch 
of  the  heads  of  the  knowledge  which  they  have  already  acquired. 
The  outlines  are  by  no  means  destitute  of  spirit,  and  may  be 
used  with  great  profit  for  family  reading,  and  in  select  classes 
or  reading  cluhs."— NOAH  PORTER,  President  of  Yale  College. 

"  It  appears  to  me  that  the  idea  of  Morris  in  his  Epochs  is  strictly 
in  harmony  with  the  philosophy  of  history— namely,  that 
great  movements  should  be  treated  not  according  to  narrow 
geographical  and  national  limits  and  distinction,  but  uni- 
versally, according  to  their  place  in  the  general  life  of  the 
world.  The  historical  Maps  and  the  copious  Indices  are 
welcome  additions  to  the  volumes." — Bishop  JOHN  F.  HURST, 
Ex-President  of  Drciv   Theolgical  Seminary. 

"The  volumes  contain  the  ripe  results  of  the  studies  of  men  who 
are  authorities  in  their  respective  fields." — Tlie  Nation. 

"To  be  appreciated  they  must  be  read  in  their  entirety;  and  we 
do  no  more  than  simple  justice  in  commending  them  earnestly 
to  the  favor  of  the  studious  public." — TJic  Nezu   I'orl-  Jl'or/d. 

The  great  success  of  the  series  is  the  best  proof  of  its  general 
popularity,  and  the  excellence  of  the  various  volumes  is  further 
attested  by  their  having  been  adopted  as  text-books  in  many  of 
our  leading  educational  institutions,  including  Harvard,  Cornell, 
V/esleyan,  Vermont,  and  Syracuse  Universities  ;  Yale,  Princeton, 
Amherst,  Dartmouth,  Williams,  Union,  and  Smith  Colleges;  and 
many  other  colleges,  academies,  normal  and  high   schools. 


EPOCHS  OF  MODERN    HISTORY- 

A    SERIES    OF  BOOKS  NARRATING    THE  HISTORY   OF 

ENGLAND  AND  EUROPE  AT  SUCCESSIVE  EPOCHS 

SUBSEQUENT    TO    THE    CHRISTIAN  ERA. 

Edited  by 

Edward   E.  Morris. 

Sixteen  volumes,  i6mo,  with  70  Maps,  Plans  and  Tables. 

Sold  separately.     Price  per  vol.,  $1.00. 

The  Set,  Roxburgh   style,  gilt  top,  in  box,  $16.00. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES— England  and  Europe 

in  the  Ninth  Centur>'.   By  the  Very  Rev.  R.W.  Church,  M.  A. 
THE   NORMANS  IN  EUROPE— The  Feudal  System  and  England 

under  Norman  Kings.     By  the  Rev.  A.  H.  Johnson,  M.A. 
THE  CRUSADES.     By  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox,  M.A. 
THE  EARLY  PLANTAGE NETS— Their  Relation  to  the   History 

of  Europe  :    The  Foundation  and  Growtli  of  Constitutional 

Government.  By  the  Rev.  Wm.  Stubbs,  M.A. 
EDWARD  III.  By  the  Rev.  W.  Warburton,  M.A. 
THE   HOUSES  OF   LANCASTER  AND  YORK— The  Conquest  and 

Loss  of  France.     By  James  Gairdner. 
THE  ERA  OF  THE   PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION.    By  Frederic 

Seebohm.     With  Notes  on  Books  in  English  relating  to  the 

Reformation.     By  Prof.  George  P.  Fisher,  D.D. 
THE  AGE  OF  ELIZABETH.     By  the  Rev.  M.  Creighton,  M.A. 
THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR,  1618-1648.     By  Samuel  Rawson 

Gardiner. 
THE    PURITAN     REVOLUTION;    and    the    First  Two   Stuarts, 

1603-1660.  By  Samuel  Rawson  Gardiner. 
THE  FALL  OF  THE  STUARTS;  and  Western  Europe.     By  the 

Rev.  Edward  Hale,  M.A. 
THE  AGE  OF  ANNE.     By  Edward  E.  Morris,  M.A. 

THE  EARLY  HANOVERIANS— Europe  from  the  Peace  of  Utrech  to 
the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.    By  Edward  E.  Morris,  M.A. 

FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  AND  THE  SEVEN  YEARS' WAR.  By 
F.  W.  Longman. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.  By 
William  O'Connor  Morris.  With  Appendix  by  Andrew 
D.  White,  LL.D.,   Ex-Pres't  of  Cornell  University. 

THE  EPOCH  OF  REFORM,  1830-1850.  By  Justin  McCarthy. 
These  volumes,  read  consecutively,  form   the  best  history  of 

Modern   Times, 


EPOCHS  OF  ANCIENT    HISTORY. 

A    SERIES    OF  BOOKS  NARRATING    THE   HISTORY    OF 

GREECE  AND  ROME.  AND  OF  THEIR  RELATIONS  TO 

OTHER   COUNTRIES  AT  SUCCESSIFE  EPOCHS. 

Edited  by 

Rev.  G.  W.  Cox  and  Charles  Sankey,  M.A. 

Eleven  volumes,  i6mo,  with  41  Maps  and  Plans. 

Sold  separately.    Price  per  vol.,  $1.00. 

The  Set,  Roxburgh  style,  gilt  top,  in  box,  $11.00. 

TROY— ITS  LEGEND,  HISTORY,  AND  LITERATURE.  By 
S.  G.  W.  Benjamin. 

THE  GREEKS  AND  THE  PERSIANS.     By  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox. 

THE  ATHENIAN  EMPIRE— From  the  Flight  of  Xerxes  to  the 
Fall  of  Athens.     By  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox. 

THE  SPARTAN  AND  THEBAN  SUPREMACIES.  By  Charles 
Sankey,  M.A. 

THE  MACEDONIAN  EMPIRE— Its  Rise  and  Culmination  to  the 
Death  of  Alexander  the  Great.     By  A.  M.  Curteis,  M.A. 

The  five  volumes  above  give  a  connected  and  complete  histor) 
of  Greece  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  death  of  Alexander. 

EARLY  ROME— From  the  Foundation  of  the  City  to  its  Destruc- 
tion by  the  Gauls.     By  W.  Ihne,  Ph.D. 

ROME  AND  CARTHAGE— The  Punic  Wars.  By  R.  Bosworth 
Smith,  M.A. 

THE  GRACCHI,  MARIUS,  AND  SULLA.    By  A.  H.  Beesly,  M.A.  ' 

THE  ROMAN  TRIUMVIRATES.  By  the  Very  Rev.  Charles 
Merivale,  D.D. 

THE  EARLY  EMPIRE— From  the  Assassination  of  Julius  Ccesar 
to  the  Assassination  of  Domitian.  By  the  Rev.  W.  Wolfe 
Capes,  M.A. 

THE  AGE  OF  THE  ANTON  I NES— the  Roman  Empire  of  the 
Second  Century.     By  the  Rev.  W.  WOLFE  Capes,  M.A. 

The  six  volumes  above  give  the  History  of  Rome  from  the 
founding  of  the  City  to  the  death  of  Marcus  A  melius  Antoninus. 


PROF.  G.  P.  FISHER'S  WORKS. 


THE  GROUNDS  OF  THEISTIC  AND  CHRISTIAN 

BELIEF.     I  vol.,  crown  8vo,  $2.50. 

The  need  of  a  new  book  on  Evidences  to  replace  the  older  treatises,  which 
do  not  meet  the  wants  of  the  present  time,  is  universally  admitted.  Prof. 
Fisher  possesses  eminent  qualifications  for  supplying  this  need  in  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  all  the  later  thinking  on  the  subject  and  an  extensive  acquaint- 
ance with  the  arguments  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  combined  with  a  power 
of  condensation  and  a  clear,  attractive  style. 

From  a  Letter  0/  Julius  H.  Seelye,  President  of  Amherst  College. 
''  I  find  it  as  I  should  expect  it  to  be,  wise  and  candid,  and  convincing  to 
an  honest  mind.      I  congratulate  you  upon  its  publication,  in  which  you  seem 
to  me  to  have  rendered  a  high  public  service." 

From  Prof.  James  O,  Murray,  of  Princeton  College,  in  the  N.  Y.  Evangelist. 
"The  volume  under  review  meets  here  a  great  want,  and  meets  it  well. 
It  is  eminently  fitted  to  meet  the  honest  doubts  of  some  of  our  best  young  men. 
.  .  .  .  Its  fairness  and  candor,  its  learning  and  ability  in  argument,  its 
thorough  handling  of  wo(/tv-«  objections — all  these  qualities  fit  it  for  such  a 
service,  and  a  great  service  it  is." 

From  the  Congregationalist. 
"We  hope  that  this  treatise  will  be  widely  scattered  and  diligently  studied. 
It  is  wholly  in  the  right  direction.     It  is  liberal  without  being  loose,  learned 
without    being   dry,   conclusive  without    being    assuming,   and  indicates   its 
author's  place  among  the  ablest  writers  of  the  day  on  Christian  themes," 

ESSAYS  ON   THE   SUPERNATURAL  ORIGIN  OF 
CHRISTIANITY,     i  vol.,  8vo,  new  and  enlarged  edition, 

$3.00. 

From  the  North  American  Reznew. 
"Able  and  scholarly  essays  on  the  Supernatural  Origin  of  Christianity, 
in  which  Prof.  Fisher  discusses  such  subjects  as  the  genuineness  of  the  Gospel 
of  John,  Baur's  view  of  early  Christian  History  and  Literature,  and  the  mythi- 
cal theory  of  Strauss." 

From  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Review. 
"  The  entire  work  is  one  of  the  noblest,  most  readable,  most  timely  and 
effective  in  our  apologetic  literature,  which  has  appeared  at  the  present  day." 

From  the  Nezu  York  Tribune. 
"The  author  seems  equally  at  home  in  every  department  of  his  subject. 
They  are  all  treated  with  learning,  with  insight,  with  sense,  and  discrimina- 
tion. His  volume  evinces  rare  versatility  of  intellect,  with  a  scholarship  no 
less  sound  and  judicious  in  its  tone  and  extensive  in  its  attainments  than  it  is 
modest  in  its  pretensions." 

From  the  British  Quarterly  Review. 
"We  know  not  where  the  student  will  find  a  more  satisfactory  guide  iri 
relation  to  the  great  questions  which  have  grown  up  between  the  friends  of 
the  Christian  revelation  and  the  most  able  of  its  assailants,  within  the  memory 
of  the  present  generation.  .  .  .  To  all  these  topics  the  author  has  brought 
a  fullness  of  learning,  a  masculine  discernment,  and  a  sturdy  impartiality 
which  we  greatly  admire." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  "  A  Popular 
Manual  for  Instruction  and  Study."  i  vol.,  crown  8vo,  new 
and  cheaper  edition,  $2.50. 

From  the  Christian  Union. 

"The  book  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  that  power  of  lucid  condensation 
which  its  author  possesses  in  a  high  degree.  .  .  .  Theqii.Tlity  ofcondcnscd- 
ness  renders  it  worthy  to  be  studied,  not  merely  read  ;  and  it  would  be  excel- 
lent as  a  text  book  in  college.  The  references  are  full  and  valu.ible,  and  the 
chronological  table  and  list  of  authorities  will  be  appreciated  by  all  students." 

From  Prof.  Charles  A.  Aiken,  D.D.,  Princeton  Tr.eoligical  Seminary. 

"Professor  Fisher's  History  of  t lie  Reformation  presents  the  results  of 
prolonged,  extended,  and  exact  study,  with  those  excellent  qualities  of  style 
which  are  s>  characteristic  of  him — clearness,  smoothness,  judicial  fairness, 
vividness,  felicity  in  arranging  material,  as  well  as  in  grouping  and  delineating 
characters.  It  m:ist  become  not  only  a  lihrary  favorite,  but  a  popular 
manual,  where  such  a  work  is  rctjuireci  for  instruction  and  study,  Fur  such 
uses  it  seems  to  me  admirably  adapted." 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  With  a 
view  of  the  slate  of  the  Roman  World  at  the  Birth  of  Christ. 
I  vol.,  8yo,  $3.00. 

From  the  Boston  Advertiser. 
"  Prof.  Fisher  has  displayed  in  this,  as  in  his  previous  published  writings, 
that  catholicity  and  that  calm  judicial  quality  of  mind  which  are  so  indispens- 
able to  a  true  historical  critic." 

From  ike  Examiner. 
"The  volume  is  not  a  dry  repetition  of  well-known  facts.     It  bears  the 
marks  of  original  research.     Every  page  glows  with  freshness  of  material  and 
choiceness  of  diction." 

From  the  Evangelist. 
"  The  volume  contains  an  amount  of  information  that  makes  it  one  of  the 
most  useful  of  treatises  for  a  student  in  philosophy  and  theology,  and  must 
secure  for  it  a  place  in  his  library  as  a  standard  authority." 

DISCUSSIONS    IN    HISTORY    AND    THEOLOGY. 

I  vol.,  8vo,  $3.00. 

"  Prof.  Fisher  has  gathered  here  a  number  of  essays  on  subjects  connected 
with  these  departments  of  study  and  research  which  have  engaged  his  special 
attention,  and  in  which  he  has  made  himself  an  authority. 

FAITH  AND  RATIONALISM,  i  vol.,  i2mo,  new  and 
cheaper  edition,  75  cents. 

Fiom  the  New  York  Times. 
"This  little  volume  may  be  regarded  as  virtually  a  primer  of  modem 
religious  thought,  which  contains  within  its  condensed  pages  rich  materials 
that  are  not  easily  gathered  from  the  great  volumes  of  our  theological  authors." 
Frotn  the  Presbyterian. 
"The  author  deals  with  many  of  the  questions  of  the  day,  and  does  so  with 
a  freshness  and  completeness  quite  admirable  and  attractive." 

THE   CHRISTIAN    RELIGION.       i  vol.,   i6mo,  cloth, 
50  cents  net. 
"This  masterly  essay  of  Prof.   Fisher  is  one  of  the  best  arguments  for 
Christianity  that  could  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have  come  under 
the  influence  of  sceptical  writers." 


BOOKS     AND     READING.     A  new  edition.     By  Noah 

Porter,  LL.D.,  President  of  Yale  College.    With  an  appendix 

giving  valuable  directions  for  courses  of  reading,  prepared  by 

James  M.  Hubbard,  late  of  the  Boston  Public  Library,    i  vol., 

crown  8vo,  $2.00. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  name  any  American  better  qualified  than  President 
Porter  to  give  advice  upon  the  important  question  of  "  What  to  Read  and  How 
to  Read."  His  acquamtance  with  the  whole  range  of  English  literature  is  most 
thorough  and  exact,  and  his  judgments  are  eminently  candid  and  mature.  A 
safer  guide — in  short,  in  all  literary  matters — it  would  be  impossible  to  find. 

"  The  great  value  of  the  book  lies  not  in  prescribing  courses  of  reading, 
but  in  a  discussion  of  principles,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  valuable 
systematic  reading." — T/te  Christian  Standard, 

"  Young  people  who  wish  to  know  what  to  read  and  how  to  read  it,  or  how 
to  pursue  a  particular  course  of  reading,  cannot  do  better  than  begin  with  this 
book,  which  is  a  practical  guide  to  the  whole  domain  of  literature,  and  is  full  of 
wise  suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  the  mind." — Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

"  President  Porter  himself  treats  of  all  the  leading  departments  of  litera- 
ture of  course  with  abundant  knowledge,  and  with  what  is  of  equal  importance 
to  him,  with  a  very  definite  and  serious  purpose  to  be  of  service  to  inexperi- 
enced readers.  There  is  no  better  or  more  interesting  book  of  its  kind  now 
wi  thm  their  resLch,"— Boston  Advertiser. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

ELEMENTS  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PHILOSOPHY. 

A   Manual  for  Schools  and  Colleges.     Abridged  from  "  The 

Human  Intellect."     i  vol.,  8vo,  $3.00. 

This  work  is  used  as  a  text  book  in  Yale,  Dartmouth,  Bowdoin,  Oberlin, 
Bates,  Hamilton,  Vassar,  and  Smith  Colleges  ;  Wesleyan,  Ohio,  Lehigh,  and 
Wooster  Universities,  and  many  other  colleges,  academies,  normal  and  high 
schools. 


ELEMENTS  OF  MORAL  SCIENCE,  Theoretical  and 
Practical,     i  vol.,  8vo,  $3.00. 

From  George  S.  Jl/orris,  Pro/essor  of  Ethics,  University  of  Michigan. 

"I  have  read  the  work  with  great  interest,  and  parts  of  it  with  enthusiasm. 
It  is  a  vast  improvement  on  any  of  the  current  text  books  of  ethics.  It  is  tole- 
rant and  catholic  m  tone  ;  not  superficially,  but  soundly,  inductive  in  method 
and  tendency,  and  rich  in  that  kind  of  practical  suggestion  by  which,  even 
more  than  by  the  formal  statement  of  rules,  the  formation  of  character  is 
capable  of  being  determined." 

From  E.  G.  Robinson,  President  of  Brown  University . 
"  It  has  all  the  distinguishing  marks  of  the  author's  work  on  '  The  Human 
Intellect,'   is  full  and  comprehensive  in  its  treatment,  dealing  largely   with 
current  discussions,   and  very  naturally  follows  it  as  a  text  book  for  the 
class  room." 


AN  OUTLINE  STUDY  OF  MAN  ;  or,  the  Body 
and  Mind  in  One  System.  \\  ilh  illustrative  diagrams. 
By  Mark  Hopkins,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President  of  Williams 
College.     I  vol.,  i2mo,  $1.75. 

Few  colleges  owe  so  much  to  the  influence  of  a  single  man  as 
the  institution,  with  which  Dr.  Hopkins  has  so  long  been  identi- 
fied, owes  to  his  genius  for  instruction  and  to  tire  weight  of  his 
character.  His  power  of  making  abstuse  and  difficult  matters 
clear  and  easily  mastered,  of  interesting  and  stimulating  his  pupils 
and  of  impressing  them  with  his  own  lofty  views,  have  given 
him  an  almost  unique  position  as  an  educator. 

Among  all  his  works,  that  which  illustrates  best  his  peculiar 
lucid  mode  of  teaching  difficult  subjects  is  An  Outline  Study  of 
Jlla/t,  which  is  a  model  of  the  developing  method  as  applied  to 
intellectual  science  The  work  is  on  an  eniircly  new  plan.  It 
presents  man  in  his  unity,  and  his  several  faculties  and  their  rela- 
tions are  so  presented  to  the  eye  in  illustrative  diagrams  as  to  be 
readily  apprehended. 

Dr.  Hopkins'  work  has  come  into  more  general  use  in  this 
country  than  any  other  book  designed  for  instmction  in  mental 
science.  It  has  been  found  to  be  better  adapted  for  educational 
uses  than  any  other,  and  the  demand  for  it  is  increasing  every  year. 


THE    LAW    OF    LOVE,  AND    LOVE   AS    A    LAW; 
or,  Christian  Ethics,     i  vol.,  i2mo,  $1.75. 

This  work  is  designed  to  follow  the  author's  Outlme  Study  of 
Man.  As  its  title  indicates  it  is  entirely  an  exposition  of  the 
cardinal  precept  of  Christian  philosophy  in  harmony  with  nature 
and  on  the  basis  of  reason. 

Like  the  treatise  on  mental  philosophy  it  is  adapted  with  un- 
usual skill  to  educational  uses. 

It  appears  in  a  new  edition,  which  has  been  in  part  rewritten 
in  order  to  bring  it  into  closer  relation  to  his  Outline  Study  of 
Alan,  of  which  work  it  is  really  a  continuation.  More  prominence 
has  been  given  to  the  idea  of  Rights,  but  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  treatise  have  not  been  changed.  The  very  interesting  cor- 
respondence with  Dr.  McCosh  is  retained. 

From  an  able  review  of  the  work  on  its  first  appearance  we 
quote  the  following  : 

"In  this  work  Dr.  Hopkins  has  given  the  world  a  dear  expo^^ition  of  the 
principles  of  moral  science,  and  practical  rules  for  their  application.  The  sim- 
plicity, strength,  and  exactness  of  its  style  and  language;  its  discriminating 
analysis  and  forcible  logic;  its  accurate  adjustments  of  relative  truths;  its 
admirable  blending  of  the  independence  of  human  reason  with  dependence 
upon  the  Divine  mind  ; — in  all  these  respects  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 
its  combined  excellences  place  the  work  at  the  head  of  all  similar  treatise's." 


A  Vade  Meeum  for  Young  Men  and  Students. 


ON  SELF-CULTURE; 

INTELLECTUAL,    PHYSICAL,    AND    MORAL. 
BY  JOHN  STUART  BLACKIE, 

PROFESSOR     OF    GREEK   IN    THE   UNIVErSITY    OF    EDINBURGH,    AND    AUT'HOR    OF 
"  FOUR   PHASES   OF   MORALS,"   ETC. 

One  Volume,  16mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 


From  the  New  I  'ork  Evening  Post. 
"The  reader  himself  mu<it  go  to  this  little  volume.     It  is  full  of  excellent 
sense  and  fine   suggestion.     The  style  is  forcible,  simple,  and  elegant ;    the 
thought  clear  and  scholarly  ;  of  the  high  moral  quality  of  the  book  we  have 
said  enough, ' 

From  the  Boston   Transcript. 

'■  Prof  Blaclsie's  little  book  is  so  full  of  strong  Scotch  common-sense  and 
of  judicious  counsel  in  regard  to  the  aims,  studies,  and  habits  of  young  men, 
that  it  ought  to  find  its  way  to  the  library,  and  to  the  head  and  heart  of  every 
young  man — and  young  woman,  too — in  all  English-speaking  countries," 

From  the  Churchman. 
"The  volume  is  one  which  every  young  man  ought  to  read.     It  sets  forth, 
in  a  way  which  no  recent  writer  has  equaled,  the  relations  between  intel- 
lectual, physical,  and  moral  culture,  and  will  truly  serve  as  a  most  valuable 
vade  tuecutn," 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

WHAT    DOES    HISTORY    TEACH  ? 

One  Volume,  16mo,  cloth,  7S  cents. 

Frofn  the  Hartford  Courant. 
"It  is  a  small  volume,  but  one  packed  with  treasure,  as,  indeed,  a  book 
written  by  John  Stuart  Blackie,  of  Edinburgh,  is  likely  to  be.     .     .     .     We  can 
only  indicate  the  value  of  this  bright,  brave,  inspiring  volume,  and  heartily 
commend  it  to  our  readers." 

From  the  Illustrated  Christian  Weekly. 
"  It  will  repay  repeated  perusal  and  is  a  book  to  own." 

From  the  Fartn,  Field  and  Stocktnan,  Chicago. 
"  We  can  imagine  nothing  better  for  a  Teachers'  Reading  Circle,  or  for 
any  social  reading  club,  than  this  little  book." 


These  hooks  are  for  sale  by  all  booksellers ,  or  will  be  sent,  prepaid,  on 
receipt  of  price  by  the  publishers. 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS, 
7^3  AND  745   BR.OA.D\?V.A.Y,      =      NEW  YORK. 


This  booK  is  DUE  on  the  last 
date  stamped  below 


NOV  2  8  194^ 
FEB  2  3   me 

DFC2  71958 


uifKrfeRSlTi  CF  TAL^FORNIA 

AT 

LOS  ANGELES 


ONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

lllll  ■"■ 


BR75 

F53c     Fisher   - 

The   ChT'is- — 

t1an   religion,  725  942    7 


4.'  - 


^ 


ttU^i— fU 


^ 


